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Author 


American  academy  of 
political  and  social... 

Title: 

Industrial  relations  and  the 
churches 

Place: 

Philadelphia 

Date: 

1922 


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delphia. 

liidustrial  relations  and  the  clmrclK's  ...  ^vitll  a  supplo- 
in(M)t:a  study  in  lal><>r  inohility  by  the  Industrial  research 
departuu'ut,  AVharton  school  of  finance  aud  couunerce, 
Vniveisitv  of  Peimsvlvania  ;  Anne  Bezanson,  Joseph  II. 
Wilhts,  Franco  Clialut^uir,  Leda  While  ...  Kdilors  in 
charge  of  this  volume:  John  A.  llyau  ...  V.  lOrncst  John- 
son '...  Philadelphia,  The  AuKM-ican  academy  of  political 
and  social  science,  1922. 

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American  academy  of  political  and  social  science,  Phila- 
pliia.  Tudiistrial  I'clations  and  the  chuiches  ...  1922. 
(Card  2) 

Contents. — Foreword,  by  C.  L.  King. — The  problem  of  industrial  con- 
flict.— The  social  function  of  industry. — The  church's  duty  in  relation  to  in- 
dustry.— Industrial  programs  of  the  churches  and  Christian  organizations. — 
Book  department. — Index. — Supplement. 

Xl.  Labor  and  laboring  classes— U.   S.— 1914-  2.  Social   problems. 

_3^ Church    and    labor.     4.  Sociology,    Christian.  i.  "Pennsylvania.     Uni- 

versity. Wharton  school  of  finance  and  commerce.  Industrial  research  de- 
partment. Tr.  Ryan,  Jolin  Augustine,  1869-  ed.  iii.  Johnson,  Frederick 
Ernest,   1884-        joint  cd.     iv.  Title,    v.  Title:   Labor  mobility. 


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LIBRARY 


School  of  Business 


INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS 
AND  THE  CHURCHES 


tClje  glnnate 


Volume  CIII 


September,  192^ 


With  a  Supplement:  A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 

Bt 

THE  INDUSTRIAL  RESEARCH  DEPARTMENT 
WHARTON  SCHOOL  OF  FINANCE  AND  COMMERCE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 
ANNE  BEZANSON  JOSEPH  H.  WILLITS 

FRANCE  CHALUFOUR  LEDA  WHITE 


Editor:  CLYDE  L.  KING 

Assistant  Editor:  J.  H.  WILLITS 

Editorial  Council:  C.  H.  CRENNAN.  DAVID  FRIDAY.  A.  A.  GIESECKE.  A.  R.  HATTON. 

AMOS  S   HERSHEY.  E.  M.  HOPKINS.  S.  S.  HUEBNER.  CARL  KELSEY.  J.  P.  LICH- 

TENBERGER.  ROSWELL  C.  McCREA.  E.  M.  PATTERSON.  L.  S.  ROWE. 

HENRY  SUZZALO.  T.  W.  VAN  METRE,  F.  D.  WATSON 


Editors  in  Charge  of  this  Volume 

JOHN  A.  RYAN 

Director,  Department  of  Social  Action,  National  Catholic  Welfare  Council 

F.  ERNEST  JOHNSON 

Research  Secretary,  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America 


The  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science 
39th  Street  and  Woodland  Avenue 
Philadelphia 
1922 


^ 


Copyright,  1922,  by 
The  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science 

All  rights  reserved 


EUROPEAN  AGENTS 

ENGLAND:  P.  S.  King  &  Son,  Ltd.,  2  Great  Smith  Street,  Westminster,  London,  S.  W. 
FRANCE:  L.  Larose,  Rue  Soufflot,  22,  Paris. 

GERMANY:  Mayer  &  Muller,  2  Prinz  Louis  Ferdinandstrasse,  Berlin,  N.  W. 
ITALY:  Giornale  Degli  Economisti,  via  Monte  Savello,  Palazzo  Orsini,  Rome. 
SPAIN:  E.  Dossat,  9  Plaza  de  Santa  Ana,  Madrid. 


CONTENTS 

INDUSTRIAL  RELATIONS  AND  THE  CHURCHES 

PAGE 

FOREWORD V 

Clyde  L.  King 

PART  I— THE  PROBLEM  OF  INDUSTRIAL  CONFLICT 
THE  MORAL  DIAGNOSIS 1 

William  J.  Kerby,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Sociology,  Catholic  University  of  America 
INDUSTRIAL  CONFLICT  AND  THE  LOCAL  COMMUNITY 8 

Edward  T.  Devine,  Ph.D.,  Author  and  Lecturer 
THE  STATE  AND  INDUSTRIAL  CONFLICT 16 

W.  Jett  Lauck,  Formerly  Secretary,  the  National  War  Labor  Board 
THE  TRADE  AGREEMENT  BETWEEN  EMPLOYERS  AND  EMPLOYEES 2« 

John  P.  Frey,  Editor,  International  Molders'  Journal 
COLLECTIVE  AGREEMENTS  IN  THE  MEN'S  CLOTHING  INDUSTRY 27 

W.  E.  Hotchkiss,  Director,  National  Industrial  Federation  of  Clothing  Manufacturers 

EMPLOYEE  REPRESENTATION -  •  •  • ^ 

Walter  Gordon  Merritt,  Counsel,  League  for  Industrial  Rights 
MORAL  INFLUENCES  IN  THE  ADJUSTMENT  OF  INDUSTRIAL  DISPUTES. .  .       40 

Basil  M.  Manly,  Former  Joint  Chairman,  National  War  Labor  Board 

PART  II— THE  SOCIAL  FUNCTION  OF  INDUSTRY 

INDUSTRY  AS  A  SERVICE « 

Fred  J.  Miller,  Consulting  Engineer,  Past  President  of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers 

SOCIAL  CONCEPTS  IN  ECONOMIC   THEORY 49 

Samuel  McCune  Lindsay,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Social  Legislation,  Columbia  University 

PROPERTY  FROM  A  CHRISTIAN  STANDPOINT 55 

Richmond  Dean,  Vice-President,  The  Pullman  Company,  Chicago,  Illinois 
AN  EMPLOYER'S  VIEW  OF  PROPERTY 58 

Henry  S.  Dennison,  President,  Dennison  Manufacturing  Company,  Framingham,  Massa- 
chusetts 
INDUSTRIAL  CONDITIONS  AS  A  COMMUNITY  PROBLEM  WITH  PARTICULAR. 

REFERENCE  TO  CHILD   LABOR 60 

Florence  Kelley,  General  Secretary,  National  Consumers'  League 
THE  EMPLOYERS'   RESPONSIBILITY  TO  THE   COMMUNITY 65 

Sam  A.  Lewisohn,  member  of  the  firm  of  Adolph  Lewisohn  &  Sons 
LABOR'S  RESPONSIBILITY  TO  THE  COMMUNITY 70 

Joseph  Husslein,  S.J.,  Ph.D.,  Associate  Editor,  America 

PART  III— THE  CHURCH'S  DUTY  IN  RELATION  TO  INDUSTRY 
THE  TEACHING  OF  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH 76 

John  A.  Ryan,  D.D.,  Director,  Department  of  Social  Action,  National  Catholic  Welfare 
Council,  Washington,  D.  C. 
THE  TEACHING  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  CHURCH 81 

F.  Ernest  Johnson,  Research  Secretary,  Commission  on  the  Church  and  Social  Service, 
Federal  Council  of  Churches  of  Christ  in  America 
JUDAISM  AND  THE  INDUSTRIAL  CRISIS 86 

Dr.  Sidney  E.  Goldstein,  Free  Synagogue,  New  York  City 
A   CHURCHMAN'S  VIEW  OF  THE   CHURCH'S   FUNCTION 90 

Frederic  Cook  Morehouse,  Litt.D.,  Editor,  The  Living  Church 
THE   FUNCTION  OF  THE   CHURCH   IN    INDUSTRY 96 

Harry  F.  Ward,  D.D.,  Secretary,  The  Methodist  Federation  for  Social  Service 

iii 


Iv  Contents 

AN   EMPLOYER'S   VIEW    OF   THE   CHURCH'S   FUNCTION   IN   RELATION   TO 

INDUSTRY 101 

John  J.  Eagan,  President,  American  Cast  Iron  Pipe  Company 

AN   EMPLOYER'S   VIEW   OF   THE    CHURCH'S   FUNCTION    IN   INDUSTRY...     105 

P.  H.  Callahan,  President,  Louisville  Varnish  Company 
LABOR'S  VIEW  OF  THE  CHURCH'S   FUNCTION   WITH   REGARD   TO  INDUS- 
TRIAL   RELATIONS 108 

John  A.  Voll,  President,  Glass  Bottle  Blowers'  Association 
LABOR'S   VIEW  OF  THE   FUNCTION   OF  THE  CHURCH 122 

A.  J.  Muste,  Director,  the  Brookwood  School,  Katonah,  New  York 

THE   CHURCHES'   MINISTRY   TO    WORKERS 117 

George  S.  Lackland,  D.D.,  Pastor,  Grace  Community  Church,  Denver,  Colorado 

THE   PASTOR   AND   THE   WORKINGMEN  OF  HIS   PARISH 122 

Edwin  V.  O'Hara,  LL.D.,  Former  Chairman,  Oregon  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 

PART  IV— INDUSTRIAL  PROGRAMS  OF  THE  CHURCHES  AND  CHRISTIAN 
ORGANIZATIONS 

POLICY  AND  PROGRAM  OF  TtiE  PROTESTANT  CHURCHES 125 

Worth  M.  Tippy,  D.D.,  Executive  Secretary,  Commission  on  the  Church  and  Social 
Service,  Federal  Council  of  Churches  of  Christ  in  America 
THE  PROGRAM  AND  ACTIVITIES  OF  THE  NATIONAL  CATHOLIC  WELFARE 

COUNCIL 130 

R.  A.  McGowan,  Assistant  Director,  Social  Action  Department,  National  Catholic  Wel- 
fare Council 
INDUSTRIAL  PROGRAM  OF  THE  YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION     134 

Charles  R.  Towson,  Secretary,  Industrial  Department,  International  Committee,  Y.M.C.  A. 
INDUSTRIAL  PROGRAM  OF  THE  YOUNG  WOMEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION . .     138 
Florence  Simms,  Executive,  Industrial  Department,  Field  Division 

SUMMARY  AND  AFTERWORD 141 

Editors-in-Charge,  John  A.  Ryan,  F.  Ernest  Johnson 

BOOK  DEPARTMENT .' 14-4 

INDEX 157 

SUPPLEMENT:  A  STUDY  IN  LABOR  MOBILITY 

The  Industrial  Research  Department,  Wharton  School  of  Finance  and  Commerce,  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania 

INTRODUCTION 

Need  for  Personnel  Research 166 

Scope  and  Aim  of  the  Industrial  Research  Department 167 

PART  I. 

I.  Reasons  for  Selection  of  the  Labor  Turnover  Study 171 

II.  Standardization  of  Methods  of  Collection 172 

III.  Suggestions  for  Greater  Uniformity  in  the  Study  of  Labor  Tiu-nover 173 

IV.  Discussion  of  Grouping  of  Major  Classifications 180 

PART  II 

I.  Production  Conditions 183 

II.  Monthly  and  Quarterly  Comparison  of  Annual  Turnover  Rates  with  and  without 

Lay  Offs 188 

III.  Resignations,  Discharges  and  Lay  Offs 196 

IV.  Major  Reasons  for  Resignations 200 

V.  Discussion  of  Turnover  by  Length  of  Service 210 

VI.  Summary  Monthly  Comparisons  for  Ten  Firms,  January,  1921-June,  1922 217 

VII.  Labor  Mobility  in  Public  and  Private  Employment 217 

VIII.  Conclusions 223 

INDEX 233 


«?» 


■« 


i»> 


I 


\ 


FOREWORD 


The  officers  of  the  Academy  have 
received  from  many  of  its  members 
requests  that  the  Academy  devote  a 
special  issue  of  The  Annals  to  a 
consideration  of  the  relationship  of  the 
churches  to  industry.  The  editorial 
council  decided  to  carry  out  this  sug- 
gestion and  this  volume  is  the  result. 
The  special  editors  chosen  to  prepare 
the  volume  are  each  preeminently 
qualified,  by  their  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience, to  place  before  the  country 
the  views  of  the  best  minds  in  our 
churches  on  industrial  relations. 

Dr.  John  A.  Ryan,  who  in  addition 
to  his  duties  in  the  National  Catholic 
Welfare  Council  carries  a  professorship 
in  the  National  Catholic  University  at 
Washington,  is  one  of  the  foremost 
authorities  on  economic  and  industrial 
problems  in  the  Catholic  Church  in 
America.  He  had  a  large  part  in  the 
preparation  of  the  well-known  Social 
Reconstruction  Program  issued  by  the 
Catholic  Bishops,  and  his  books  on 
wages  and  other  economic  problems 
are  widely  read. 

The  Rev.  F.  Ernest  Johnson  is 
director  and  organizer  of  the  Research 
Department  of  the  Federal  Council  of 
the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America, 
which  is  concerned  with  the  study  of 
social,  economic  and  industrial  prob- 
lems, as  an  aid  to  the  educational  pro- 
gram of  the  Protestant  churches. 
Previous  to  his  connection  with  the 
Federal  Council,  Mr.  Johnson  held 
pastorates  in  New  York  City  and  else- 


where, which  furnished  a  background 
for  his  present  activities  in  the  field  of 
human  relations. 

The  close  of  the  War  witnessed  a 
slump  in  ethical  standards  of  a  kind 
that  usually  characterizes  post-war 
periods.  It  was  no  longer  possible  to 
appeal  with  any  assurance  to  that  high 
standard  of  conduct  which  had  char- 
acterized so  many  men  in  business  and 
so  many  workmen  before  the  war 
period.  There  was  a  general  admission 
that  the  churches  had  lost  for  the  time 
being  much  of  their  influence  as 
agencies  of  social  control.  No  social 
institution  can  be  set  apart  from  the 
influence  of  other  social  institutions. 
The  social  function  of  the  Church  is  to 
set  high  standards  of  conduct  in  in- 
dustrial, commercial,  social  and  every 
other  vital  phase  of  human  life. 

The  special  editors  of  this  volume, 
representing  as  they  do  the  overwhelm- 
ing majority  of  the  church-attending 
people  in  this  country,  have  herein 
brought  together  the  thought  of  some 
of  the  best  minds  in  America  on  the 
ethical  issues  at  the  heart  of  our  in- 
dustrial problems.  W^hether  as  indi- 
viduals we  are  employers  or  wage- 
earners  or  consumers,  we  each  certainly 
care  to  know  the  views  on  industrial 
relations  of  those  leaders  in  our 
churches  who  have  given  special  con- 
sideration to  the  ethical  phases  of 
industrial  relations. 

Clyde  L.  King, 

Editor, 


■e>> 


-pmm 


^  ■  1 


The  Moral  Diagnosis 

By  Rev.  Wm.  J.  Kerby,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Sociology,  Catholic  University  of  America 


I        u 


I    \ 


THE  industrial  conflict  is  found 
wherever  labor  and  capital  are 
united  in  one  industrial  operation  and 
are  at  the  same  time  at  variance  con- 
cerning authority  in  industry,  income 
from  industry  and  the  details  of  opera- 
tion. The  parties  immediately  con- 
cerned in  any  one  controversy  or  out- 
break are  employers  and  employees. 
But  the  issues  are  fundamental.  Rever- 
berations work  their  way  outward  and 
reach  all  classes,  professions  and  groups. 
There  are  practically  no  neutral  spec- 
tators to  the  struggle.  Whether 
conviction,  economic  interest  or  associa- 
tion be  the  determining  factor,  every- 
one who  has  wide  sympathies  and  active 
intelligence  will  be  disposed  to  take  an 
attitude.  Thus  the  industrial  conflict 
goes  on  in  every  kind  of  social  group 
and  social  gathering.  It  divides  men  of 
the  same  political  party,  of  the  same 
religion,  of  the  same  race  or  class.  In 
so  far  as  men  are  attracted  by  social 
ideals  and  impersonal  search  for  justice, 
a  group  arises  which  is  solicitous  for  the 
common  welfare,  earnest  in  serving  it 
and  free  from  the  tyranny  of  self- 
interest  or  prejudice.  Public  spirited 
men,  scholars,  religious  leaders  and 
thoughtful  men  and  women  of  every 
type  represent  the  group  of  practical 
ideahsts  who  seek  the  way  to  industrial 
peace.  This  three-fold  division — labor, 
capital  and  the  public — is  reflected  in 
the  composition  of  arbitration  boards 
of  many  kinds  which  aim  to  deal  with 
particular  issues  as  they  arise  in  the 
conduct  of  industry.  All  three  of  these 
classes  are  represented  in  the  composi- 
tion of  this  volume  and  an  endeavor  is 
made  to  secure  a  presentation  and 
interpretation  of  the  factors  in  the 
struggle  and  of  the  forces  which  operate 


in  the  direction  of  peace  from  both  par- 
tisan and  general  standpoints. 

In  ordinary  times  the  conflict  is 
largely  verbal.  Feeling  and  conviction 
are  represented  in  literature,  conversa- 
tion and  orderly  advocacy  of  particular 
views.  In  an  acute  phase  of  the  con- 
flict, as,  for  example,  a  disagreement  in 
a  particular  plant,  we  find  the  struggle 
in  its  concrete  form.  It  will  vary  in 
intensity  from  orderly  disagreement  to 
violence.  It  may  relate  to  substantive 
demands,  such  as  increase  or  decrease 
in  wage  rates,  to  technical  demands 
involving  the  exercise  of  authority,  to 
conditions  of  labor,  or  to  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  union  or  the  return  of  the 
dismissed  employee.  Sometimes  the 
issue  is  symbolical  rather  than  actual, 
as,  for  instance,  when  Mr.  Baer  at  the 
time  of  the  anthracite  strike  was  will- 
ing to  deal  with  John  Mitchell,  and 
absolutely  unwilling  to  deal  with  John 
Mitchell,  president  of  the  United  Mine 
Workers. 

On  account  of  the  solidarity  of  the 
employers  on  the  one  hand  and  of  all 
organized  employees  on  the  other,  we 
find  that  on  both  sides  of  the  struggle 
the  best  mental  effort  of  both  groups 
is  involved  in  every  particular  conflict. 
The  intensity  of  feeling,  the  determina- 
tion of  the  contestants  and  the  extreme 
attitudes  taken,  are  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  any  particular  issue,  and  are  in 
proportion  only  to  the  magnitude  of  the 
issue  as  a  whole  in  the  industrial  world. 
This  is  perhaps  the  most  obstinate 
feature  of  the  situation. 

Participants  in  the  Industrial 
Conflict 

While  we  may  say  that  the  industrial 
struggle  involves  practically  all  society, 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


it  is  equally  to  the  point  to  say  that  the 
struggle  does  not  involve  all  industry'. 
There  are  large  numbers  of  laboring 
men  indisposed  to  raise  issues,  willing 
to  work  without  challenging  the  au- 
thority of  the  employer  or  the  regula- 
tions that  he  sets  down.    Whether  this 
indifference  on  the  part  of  laboring  men 
is  due  to  low  standards  of  living  or  to 
no  standards  of  living,  or  to  the  experi- 
ence of  oppression  that  has  stifled  all 
impulses  toward  larger  justice,  is  beside 
the  point.    Whether  the  cause  be  dis- 
like of  unionism,  reluctance  to  make  the 
sacrifices  of  personal  liberty  belonging 
to  it,  or  to  the  behef  that  the  laborer 
can  promote  his  own  interests  best  by 
standing  out  against  organization,  does 
not  change  the  situation.    W^hether  this 
lassitude,    individualism    or    self-con- 
fidence of  the  laboring  man  is  a  bad 
thing  or  a  good  thing  in  the  summing 
up  of  life  and  the  interpretation  of 
human   progress,    is   not   now   under 
consideration.     We  may  in  any  case 
eliminate  from  the  actual  industrial 
conflict  all  laboring  men  who  refuse  to 
raise  issues  and  are  willing  to  submit  to 
the  authority  of  the  employer.     We 
may  confine  attention,  then,  to  that 
portion  of  the  laboring  class  which  is 
organized,    which    raises    issues    and 
maintains  attitudes  at  any  cost. 

We  may  also  eliminate  situations  in 
which  labor  is  strong  and  the  employer 
is  weak.  The  employer  who,  for  any 
reason  whatsoever,  believes  that  the 
substantial  demands  of  organized  labor 
are  warranted  and  who  goes  a  long  way 
toward  complying  with  them,  may  be 
dismissed  also  from  consideration  in 
the  industrial  conflict.  We  have  re- 
maining, then,  the  strong  employers 
and  the  strong  labor  organizations  in 
whose  relations  the  struggle  attains  to 
degrees  of  intensity  that  challenge  our 
institutions  and  search  out  relentlessly 
the  resources  of  our  social  ideals.  But 
not  all  of  these  classes  are  included  in 


the  actual  industrial  conflict.  There 
are  wise  and  high-minded  men  on  both 
sides  who  take  large  views  and  imper- 
sonal attitudes,  who  find  the  way  to 
industrial  peace  in  their  individual 
plants  and  maintain  it  through  sheer 
good  will  and  kindly  understanding. 
The  number  of  leaders  on  both  sides 
who  would  gladly  take  such  an  attitude 
is  more  or  less  reduced  by  the  tyranny 
of  class.  The  employer  is  told  by  his 
friends  that  he  must  stand  by  his  class. 
The  labor  leader  is,  likewise,  the  de- 
fender of  his  class.  This  social  pressure 
reduces  the  possibility  of  maintaining 
stable  and  peaceable  relations  and 
working  out  economic  success  in  many 
industrial  plants. 

Tendencies  Toward  Peaceable 
Adjustments 

Passing  from  the  consideration  of 
leaders  to  that  of  arrangements  we  find 
that  collective  bargaining  between 
employer  and  labor  union  contributes 
extensively  to  the  furtherance  of  indus- 
trial peace.  We  may  therefore  elimi- 
nate from  the  discussion  for  the  present 
all  collective  bargaining  arrived  at  with- 
out struggle  and  operated  "without 
misunderstanding. 

When  neither  leaders  nor  collective 
bargaining  can  succeed  in  maintaining 
stable  peace  and  differences  between 
employer  and  employee  come  to  the 
point   of  conflict,   we  find   very  fre- 
quently that  mediation  and  arbitration 
prove  effective.    These  measures  pre- 
vent the  strike  which  is  in  itself  econom- 
ically harmful.     Where  they  fail  or  do 
not  apply  and  the  strike  occurs,  we 
see  the  consequences  of  unreconciled 
differences  between  labor  and  capital. 
Or  where  either  or  both  sides  resort 
to  violence,  threat,  deception,  spying, 
malicious  misrepresentation  and  even 
death  to  individuals   and  destruction 
of  property,  we  find  present  the  full 
logic  of  the  bitterness  of  the  struggle 


The  Moral  Diagnosis 


o» 


A- 


< 


and  the  defeat  of  our  social  and  spiritual 
ideals. 

To  some  extent,  progressive  social 
legislation  removes  many  details  from 
the  field  of  conflict.  This  legislation 
has  succeeded  in  toning  down  the 
asperities  of  unrestricted  competition, 
and  it  has  removed  from  the  bent 
shoulders  of  labor  many  heavy  burdens 
of  industrial  risk  that  perhaps,  on  the 
whole,  employers  have  regretted  quite 
as  much  as  the  laboring  men  themselves. 

We  should  not  overlook  the  striking 
value  of  industrial  research  which  has 
brought  to  the  surface  a  great  range  of 
authentic  information  concerning  the 
facts  in  industrial  life  and  has  given  us 
a  more  complete  analysis  of  the  rela- 
tions of  death,  disease,  injury,  poverty, 
and  inefficiency  to  the  old  conditions 
under  which  industry  operated.  The 
missionary  value  of  accurate  informa- 
tion and  of  authentic  interpretation  of 
industrial  life  and  processes  is  dis- 
played, first,  in  the  progress  toward 
industrial  peace  already  hinted  at,  and 
second,  in  the  fact  that  in  very  many 
of  our  actual  industrial  conflicts  there 
is  disagreement  as  to  fundamental  and 
essential  facts.  Perhaps  nothing  can 
contribute  more  directly  to  further  the 
interests  of  industrial  peace  than  the 
spread  of  actual  information  concern- 
ing the  facts  of  industry  and  the  aspira- 
tions of  those  involved  in  it.  When 
that  information  is  of  sufficient  quan- 
tity and  of  satisfactory  quality  it  tends 
to  build  up  a  larger  social  philosophy 
which  serves  as  a  corrective  to  the 
extremes  of  emphasis  placed  by  em- 
ployers and  by  labor  leaders  on  their 
respective  claims. 

In  estimating  the  situation  it  is  well 
to  remember  that  the  employer  is  in 
possession,  and  buttressed  into  superla- 
tive strength  by  that  fact.  The  prop- 
erty system,  endorses  him,  the  tradi- 
tions of  industry  justify  him,  ethical 
standards  corroborate  him,  legal  pro- 


cedure and  presumption  favor  him. 
The  inadvertence  of  the  public,  the 
narrowness  of  the  law  and  the  sym- 
pathies of  accepted  culture  are  his 
allies.  On  the  other  hand,  innovation 
is  bad  form.  The  laboring  class  is 
under  the  disadvantage  of  finding  that 
the  public  does  not  understand  their 
claims.  The  laws  have  not  provided 
for  them.  Constitutions  have  made 
the  recognition  of  many  of  them  legally 
impossible;  hence  laboring  men  have 
been  compelled  to  force  through  issues 
separately.  They  have  been  conscious 
of  fundamental  inequality  in  fact  before 
the  law,  and  they  have  to  await  the 
slow  unfolding  of  a  new  philosophy 
which  will  challenge  industrial  author- 
ity and  demand  a  revision  of  the  func- 
tions of  the  State  and  the  operations  of 
law  in  serving  to  secure  industrial 
justice. 

Leadership 

The  industrial  conflict  is  a  problem 
in  leadership.  Ignorant  and  selfish 
leaders  can  destroy  any  cause.  En- 
lightened and  high-minded  leadership 
is,  next  after  justice,  the  greatest  asset 
that  any  cause  can  have.  If  only  men 
of  the  highest  moral  integrity,  imp)er- 
sonal  outlook  and  culture  came  to  posi- 
tions of  authority  and  power  among 
both  employers  and  laborers,  a  long 
step  toward  industrial  peace  would  be 
taken.  The  harm  done  by  narrow- 
minded  and  unworthy  leaders  on  both 
sides  is  beyond  all  calculation.  Every 
instance  of  trickery,  selfishness,  mis- 
representation, malice,  bribery,  theft 
and  even  murder,  as  these  have  been 
found  in  the  history  of  the  struggle,  has 
done  permanent  harm  to  the  interests 
of  industrial  peace.  When  character 
is  not  stronger  than  temptation  only 
moral  disaster  can  result.  \Mien 
leaders  are  not  respected  no  cause  can 
triumph. 

No  social  arrangements  that  can  be 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


undertaken,  no  arguments  however 
strong,  can  serve  well  the  cause  of  in- 
dustrial peace  if  the  leadership  is  not  as 
noble  as  the  cause  or  as  intelligent  as 
the  issues  demand.  The  loss  of  mutual 
respect  among  contending  leaders, 
proneness  to  suspicion,  to  indirection 
and  to  the  subtle  tactics  of  self-defense 
must  be  enumerated  as  the  most  effec- 
tive obstacles  to  industrial  peace  which 
we  face.  Character  and  intelligence 
are  required.  Intelligence  is  necessary 
because  the  laws  of  social  progress 
must  be  understood;  the  delicate  bal- 
ance of  conflicting  claims  must  be  sus- 
tained; toleration  of  the  slow  complex 
processes  of  historical  change  must  be 
found  alwavs.  Onlv  disaster  could 
result  if  employers  yielded  to  the  de- 
mands of  laboring  men  without  regard 
to  economic  laws.  The  mvsteries  of 
human  motive,  the  complications  of 
credit  and  the  exactions  of  business 
risk  all  make  imperative  the  need  of 
far-reaching  foresight  in  the  midst  of 
the  competitive  struggle.  The  labor 
leader  who  drives  ahead  blindly  and 
insists  on  his  isolated  demands  without 
adjusting  them  to  the  severe  hmitations 
of  life  and  of  the  facts  in  the  situation, 
serves  his  cause  badly. 

Character  is  required  no  less  than 
intelligence.  Leaders  on  both  sides 
must  be  lovers  of  justice,  genuine 
friends  of  truth.  Unless  their  moral 
fibre  is  strong  enough  to  release  them 
from  the  tjTanny  of  selfishness  and  self- 
seeking,  they  will  drift  into  an  oppor- 
tunism in  which  their  ideals  will  perish 
and  they  will  sink  back  to  the  low  level 
of  brute  force  and  we  shall  know  no 
peace. 

It  is  impossible  to  overstate  the  im- 
portance of  leaders,  and  of  intelligence 
and  character  in  them,  in  seeking  indus- 
trial peace.  Religion  is  called  upon  at 
this  point  to  do  fundamental  work  in 
character  building.  Its  assertion  of 
spiritual  values,  its  emphasis  on  the 


intangible  compensations  of  life,  its 
cultural  outlook  upon  life  as  a  whole 
and  its  insistence  on  the  sanctity  of 
service,  are  essentials  in  the  training  of 
industrial  leaders. 

Conscience  in  Ownership 

Were  our  industrial  leaders  on  both 
sides  as  intelligent  and  high-minded  as 
we  might  ask,  an  industrial  problem 
would  still  remain  in  the  form  of  a  rea- 
sonable conflict  of  economic  interests. 
Differences  as  to  authority  in  industrj^ 
as  to  income  from  industry  and  as  to 
details    of   operation    will    remain    to 
sharpen    thinking,    improve    caution, 
and  slow  down  the  impulsiveness  that 
is  so  harmful  in  institutional  life.     Men 
are  never  more  wise  than  when  thev 
face  a  challenge  which  they  must  re- 
spect.    Industrial  authority  like  any 
other    is    expansive.     Differences    of 
judgment  among  men  will  remain  for- 
ever.    Without   ideals   we   shall   sink 
into  barbarism.     With  them  we  are 
made  restless  and  aspiring.     The  prop- 
erty sj^stem  as  such  and  the  conditions 
of  the  distribution  of  property  are  in- 
\'olved   here.     We   have   today   large 
industrial  units,  large  amalgamations 
of  capital,  parceled  ownership  through 
stockholding  and  separation  of  owner- 
ship from  management,  in  that  owners 
do  not  manage  and  managers  do  not 
own.     We  have  representative  govern- 
ment in  industry  as  we  have  in  political 
life.     The  directors  of  industrial  cor- 
porations  are   representatives   of  the 
owners  of  an  industry.     They  are  not 
the  owners.     We  have  majority  control 
and  the  manipulation  of  that  majority 
is  as  clearly  marked  as  in  any  legislative 
assembly  that  ever  acted.     We  find 
the  infinite  delicacy  of  the  system  of 
credit  and  finance,  the  tendency  of  con- 
trolled  credit   to   drift   toward   small 
groups  whose  imperial  power  in  the 
industrial  world  exceeds  the  dreams  of 
a  Roman  Caesar.     The  executives  in 


The  Moral  Diagnosis 


^i 


^ 


control  of  an  industry  obey  the  direc- 
tors and  the  directors  establish  policies 
that  will  produce  dividends.  The 
dividends  are  distributed  to  the  one 
thousand  or  thirty  thousand  scattered 
owners.  The  result  is  that  the  con- 
science of  ownership  is  separated  from 
its  functions.  An  entirely  new  dom- 
inant motive  is  introduced  and  an  in- 
dustry must  maintain  prestige  in  the 
competitive  struggle,  produce  divi- 
dends, protect  credit,  and  maintain 
stock  and  bond  values.  In  this  way 
the  economic  motive  takes  on  enhanced 
power  in  the  practical  direction  of 
industry  and  the  human  consideration 
of  the  wider  interest  of  labor  is  un- 
doubtedly weakened. 

From  this  standpoint  the  problem  is 
one  of  reuniting  conscience  and  respon- 
sibility with  ownership  and  of  forcing 
upon  dividends  a  Christian  spirit  and 
impulse.  Religion  has  a  task  at  this 
point  in  restating  the  responsibilities  of 
ownership,  in  reuniting  conscience  and 
ownership,  and  in  devising  a  more 
worthy  recognition  of  the  weaker  ele- 
ment of  labor  in  the  industrial  process. 
This  entire  task  may  be  described  by 
saying  that  it  is  necessary  to  devase  a 
new  ideal  of  social  justice,  a  new  bill  of 
industrial  rights  which  will  serve  the 
industrial  constitution  as  the  bills  of 
political  rights  serve  the  development 
of  the  political  constitution  in  the  his- 
tory of  human  living. 

The  supreme  motive  in  the  industrial 
process  is  profit.  The  individualistic 
philosophy  upon  which  our  industrial 
fabric  has  rested  frankly  declares  that 
the  appeal  to  selfishness  is  the  driving 
power  of  life,  that  that  motive  alone  is 
powerful  enough  to  feed  and  clothe  the 
world,  promote  progress  and  place  the 
latent  genius  of  mankind  at  the  mate- 
rial service  of  the  race.  No  one  denies 
the  sanctity  of  justice  provided  he  may 
define  it.  The  employer  seeks  and 
serves  justice  as  he  defines  it.     The 


laborer  seeks  and  serves  justice  as  he 
defines  it.  The  two  disagree  in  their 
definition  of  justice  as  applied  to  pres- 
ent social  conditions.  Approach  to 
agreement  as  to  what  justice  is  in  terms 
of  authority,  income,  and  details  of 
operation,  i&  the  direct  way  to  indus- 
trial peace.  If  the  employer  insists  on 
his  concrete  definition  of  justice  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  others,  there  can  be  no 
peace.  If  the  laborer  devises  his  own 
definition  of  justice  to  the  exclusion  of 
all  others  without  regard  to  the  com- 
plex limitations  of  life  and  without 
compromise,  there  can  be  no  peace. 

All  social  institutions  operate  by 
force  of  factors  which  they  themselves 
do  not  control.  Good  will,  mutual 
trust  and  respect,  confidence  in  the 
divine  order  of  life,  control  of  valua- 
tions that  will  stand  against  all  selfish 
pressure  must  be  interwoven  into  all 
institutional  management  if  we  are  to 
have  peace.  R^eligion  as  the  inter- 
preter of  justice  and  of  human  values  is 
called  upon  to  lend  its  best  efforts  to 
such  discounting  of  conflicting  stand- 
ards of  justice  as  will  prepare  the  way 
for  understanding. 

Certain  modifications  of  industrial 
authority,  new  ways  of  calling  in  the 
conscience  of  all  stockholders  as  a  de- 
termining factor  in  business  policy, 
pressure  from  stock  and  bond  holders 
upon  directors,  the  promotion  of  stock 
and  bond  ownership  among  laboring 
men,  promotion  of  cooperative  efforts 
and  of  various  forms  of  insurance  and 
saving,  the  extension  of  social  legisla- 
tion at  points  of  greatest  pressure  and 
menace  to  the  laborer,  the  assumption 
of  new  protective  functions  by  the 
State,  seem  to  be  imperative  as  scat- 
tered efforts  toward  social  justice.  It 
would  be  no  service  to  human  progress 
were  w^e  to  ask  the  laboring  class  to 
surrender  its  idealism.  It  would  be  no 
service  to  progress  to  reserve  all  of  the 
authority  in  industry  to  those  who  con- 


6 


The  Axnals  of  the  American  Academy 


trol  it.  The  converging  of  effort  and 
research  upon  the  extent  to  which  the 
employer  can  yield  and  labor  can  be 
self-controlled  in  seeking  a  common 
definition  of  justice  are  tasks  that  are 
now  at  hand. 

Industrial  Liberty 

The  problem  may  be  stated  again  in 
terms  employed  by  Von  Scheel  in  the 
early  seventies  in  Germany.     He  de- 
scribed the  labor  question  as  consisting 
in  the  consciousness  of  contradiction 
between    political    emancipation    and 
economic  dependence  as  experienced 
by  the  laboring  class.     The  develop- 
ment of  personal  liberty  and  the  philos- 
ophy of  the  modern  state  have  given  to 
the  individual  an  enhanced  self-appre- 
ciation  which   is   the   cornerstone   of 
democracy  as  it  is  the  fundamental 
truth  in  the  teaching  of  Christ.     The 
individual  craves  life,  growth,  security, 
and  the  opportunity  to  enjoy  a  reason- 
able share  in  the  culture  of  his  time. 
Our  political  teaching  is  based  on  these 
truths.     The  operation  of  our  institu- 
tions assumes  that  the  indi\ddual  does 
understand  these  aspirations  and  that 
he    acts    upon    that    understanding. 
Rapid    industrial    development    that 
placed  the  laboring  man  increasingly 
under  the  domination  of  the  employer 
was  in  conflict  with  this  enhanced  self- 
appreciation.     Now  the  fundamental 
power  of  the  labor  movement  is  de- 
rived from  the  spirit  of  democracy. 
The  laboring  men  believe  that  their 
political   democracy   has   been   made 
futile  by  the  experience  of  industrial 
dependence.     The  whole  struggle  seen 
from  this  standpoint  consists  in  the 
determined  effort  of  laboring  men  to 
introduce  the  spirit  and  some  of  the 
ways  of  democracy  into  industry.     The 
industrial  conflict  is,  therefore,  a  phase 
in  the  solemn  process  of  the  readjust- 
ment of  political  and  industrial  institu- 
tions in  western  civilization.     It  is  use- 


less for  any  employer  or  any  state  or 
statesman  to  attempt  to  ignore  this 
tidal  movement  of  the  world.  It  is 
useless  for  any  employer  to  believe 
that  he  can  do  anything  more  than 
hinder  for  a  moment  the  progress  of 
the  process  in  a  particular  industrial 
plant.  Wisdom  will  be  found  only 
through  the  proper  understanding  of 
this  process  of  social  readjustment  as  a 
whole,  and  in  drawing  upon  history 
for  the  wisdom  needed  to  guide  it 
safely. 

Nor  can  laboring  men  on  their  part 
afford  to  ignore  the  lessons  of  history, 
the  penalties  of  revolution,  and  the 
sanctities  that  restrain  all  great  social 
effort.     Political    rulers    who   ignored 
popular  aspirations  have  gone  down 
to  death,  and  instituJ:ions  have  crum- 
bled because  of  attempts  to  resist  this 
cosmic   movement.     But  the  day   of 
liberty  has  been  long  delayed  when  sub- 
jects defied  the  orderly  process  of  social 
change.     They    are    best    friends    of 
progress  who  control  the  urge  of  the 
indiscriminate    passion     for     liberty. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  much  of  the 
delay  that  industrial  justice  has  suf- 
fered, much  of  the  misunderstanding 
that  has  prolonged  the  agony  of  the 
weaker  social  classes  may  be  ascribed 
to  the  mistakes  of  judgment  and  faults 
of  motive  that  have  led  men  to  see  the 
world  through  inflamed  vision  instead 
of  the  calmer  light  of  reason.     The 
spirit  that  prevails  in  the  industrial 
conflict  is  due  largely  to  what  one  may 
call   divided   thinking.     Every   social 
interest  must  be  seen  in  its  place  in  the 
whole    of    social    life.     No    industrial 
leader  can  think  clearly  if  he  insists  on 
thinking  out  the  relations  of  the  world 
from  the  standpoint  of  economic  inter- 
ests.    That  interest  is  one  of  many. 
Life  is  more  than  raiment.     If  employ- 
ers would  but  think  of  life  from  the 
standpoint  of  life  itself,   they  would 
readily  gain  an  insight  which  would  dis- 


The  Moral  Dla^gnosis 


/ 


pose  them  to  adjust  economic  claims 
to  higher  human  claims.  If  they 
would  study  the  social  conditions  that 
leave  the  weaker  classes  helpless  and 
that  baffle  their  legitimate  aspiration 
for  fuller  life,  for  freedom  from  eco- 
nomic fear  and  for  reasonable  dignity 
and  opportunity,  understanding  would 
be  given  to  them  where  it  now  fails. 

But  the  mistakes  of  divided  thinking 
are  found  also  in  the  advocacy  of  the 
interests  of  the  employee.  Reckless 
insistence  on  demands  without  due 
allowance  for  the  complication  of  social 
change  exposes  one  to  mistakes  in 
action  which  hurt  confidence.  Refusal 
to  act  on  limitations  which  employers 
do  not  invent  and  cannot  control  leads 
employees  into  positions  which  their 
best  friends  cannot  endorse.  If,  then, 
each  party  to  the  controversy  were  to 
study  his  own  claim,  not  in  itself,  but  as 
a  subordinate  phase  of  life  as  a  whole, 
a  widening  of  sympathy  and  improve- 
ment of  understanding  would  result 
which  would  point  the  nearer  way  to 
industrial  peace. 

This  divided  thinking  is  a  mistake 
from  every  social  standpoint.  Until 
it  is  corrected,  we  can  expect  no  basis 


of  stable  peace.     The  mistake  is  one  of 
method.     It  seems  that  religion  has  an 
opportunity  here  which  promises  much 
among  those  who  accept  its  message 
with  confidence  and  respect  its  claims 
with  reverence.     Religion  touches  the 
whole  of  each  man's  life  and  the  whole 
of   social   life.     It   aims   to   diminish 
emphasis  on  the  interests  that  divide 
men  and  to  increase  it  on  the  interests 
that  unite  them.     It  is  safer  to  inter- 
pret competition  from  the  standpoint 
of  human  brotherhood  than  it  is  to 
understand    brotherhood     from     the 
standpoint  of  competition.     The  sanc- 
tities of  property  are  borrowed  from 
the  sanctities  of  life.     The  sanctities 
of  life  will  never  be  understood  and 
respected  if  only  economic  thinking  is 
to  guide  one.     The  work  which  religion 
has  to  do  extends  to  such  correction  of 
habits   of  thought,   and  of   points   of 
view  as  will  place  all  of  the  related 
interests  of  life  in  true  proportion  to 
one    another.     Once    this    is    acconi- 
plished,  the  way  to  industrial  peace  is 
pointed  out.     Until  this  is  done,  hope 
for  justice  and  peace  will  be  confined 
to  what  social  authority  can  do  by  force 
and  law. 


!    ( 


Industrial  Conflict  and  the  Local  Community 


By  Edward  T.  Devine,  Ph.D. 

Author  and  Lecturer 


THE  local  coinmunity  may  come 
into  contact  with  industrial  conflict 
through  (1)  its  courts;  (2)  its  police 
department;  (3)  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce or  civic  or  commercial  clubs;  (4) 
sympathetic  trade  unions  or  central 
trades  councils  or  federations;  (5)  the 
churches;  (6)  special  ad  hoc  commit- 
tees, either  self  constituted  or  appointed 
by  some  other  body,  such  as  a  mass 
meeting  of  citizens  or  the  churches;  (7) 
the  newspapers;  (8)  the  schools;  (9)  in- 
dividual representative  citizens;  (10) 
intangible  public  opinion. 

The  Courts 
The  courts,  deriving  their  powers 
from  the  sovereign  state,  exist  to  de- 
termine legal  rights  which  may  be  in 
dispute  between  individuals,  to  ascer- 
tain whether  alleged  offenses  against 
the  laws  have  really  been  committed 
by  the  accused,  and  to  assess  damages 
and  fix  punishments.  They  also,  in 
exercising  these  powers,  have  occasion 
to  determine  what  the  law  really  is: 
whether,  for  example,  a  statute  is  con- 
stitutional or  an  ordinance  legal; 
whether  a  previous  court  order  or  in- 
junction is  valid;  whether  a  policeman 
or  other  peace  officer  in  a  given  instance 
has  exceeded  his  powers;  whether  an 
indictment  found  by  a  grand  jury  shall 
be  quashed  for  some  reason  or  tried. 
From  justice  of  the  peace  or  police 
magistrate  to  the  highest  courts  of 
appeal,  the  courts  come  into  relation 
with  industrial  conflict,  as  with  every 
other  form  of  social  conflict  in  which 
personal  injury  may  occur  and  in  which 
property  rights  are  involved.  In  the 
most  peaceful  and  orderly  strike  or 
lockout  questions  are  likely  to  arise  as 


-  to  the  enforcement  or  violation  of 
existing  agreements  between  employing 
corporation  and  wage-earners.  In 
the  greater  and  more  prolonged  con- 
flicts there  are  likely  to  be  riots,  de- 
struction of  property,  even  loss  of 
life,  furnishing  work  for  the  criminal 
courts;  and  also  delicate  questions 
concerning  the  most  fundamental  of 
human  rights,  such  as  the  right  of 
assembly,  the  right  of  free  speech,  and 
the  right  of  contract. 

The  impartiality  and  the  compe- 
tence of  the  judges  who  are  to  decide 
these  questions  are  obviously  the  prime 
consideration.  That  there  should  be 
general  confidence  in  the  fairness  of 
temper  and  also  in  the  technical  knowl- 
edge of  the  judges — in  their  knowledge 
not  only  of  the  principles  of  law  and 
equity  but  also  of  those  economic  con- 
ditions out  of  which  the  disputes  arise 
and  the  industrial  relations  in  which 
the  disputants  stand  to  one  another— 
is  greatly  to  be  desired. 

On  the  whole,  employers  and  invest- 
ors seem  to  have  such  confidence.  The 
remark  is  not  cynical.  It  is  not  that 
they  have  confidence  because  they 
think  the  judges  will  uniformly  decide 
in  their  favor.  This  would  be  qu  ite  un- 
true. There  are  occasional  decisions 
against  the  corporations.  What  the 
officers  and  directors  of  the  employing 
corporations  think,  and  those  whose 
interests,  large  or  small,  are  in  profits 
and  dividends,  is  that,  on  the  whole, 
they  get  a  fair  hearing;  that,  when  leg- 
islators become  demagogues  or  local 
opinion  prejudiced,  the  courts  may  be 
expected  to  give  the  protection  to 
which  even  the  unpopular  are  entitled; 
that  the  judges,  especially  the  ap- 
8 


Industrial  Conflict  and  the  Local  Community 


9 


'In 


ii.> 


(    4 


pointed  and  long-term  judges,  are  not 
likely  to  be  influenced  by  the  clamor  of 
the  multitude  and  the  passions  of  the 
passing  hour;  that  they  sit  more  or  less 
aloof  from  the  influences  which  sway 
ordinary  mortals,  serene  in  their  knowl- 
edge of  the  way  in  which  similar  issues 
have  been  settled  in  the  past  and 
determined  to  do  justice  though  the 
heavens  fall. 

Unfortunately,  this  is  not  the  way 
strikers  or  locked-out  wage-earners 
ordinarily  feel  about  the  courts.  It 
may  be  because  of  their  ignorance  or 
natural  perversity,  but  the  fact  is  cer- 
tainly that  they  rather  expect  the 
courts  to  be  antagonistic.  They  think 
they  have  had  to  wrest  the  right 
of  peaceful  picketing  from  reluctant 
judges;  the  right  to  collective  bargain- 
ing in  the  face  of  ancient  judge-made 
conspiracy  laws.  They  think  of  in- 
junctions in  labor  disputes  as  simply 
one  more  exceedingly  effective  weapon 
against  them.  They  think  that  judges 
are  human,  like  themselves,  in  that 
they  are  influenced  by  the  current  opin- 
ions, prejudices  and  passions  of  those 
with  whom  they  associate,  and  that 
they  do  not,  after  their  election  to  the 
bench,  unless  just  before  a  re-election 
is  in  question,  associate  very  much  with 
wage-earners.  They  think  that  judges 
naturally  and  inevitably  take  the  point 
of  view  of  the  prosperous,  property- 
owning  classes  rather  than  that  of 
the  industrial  workers.  They  recognize 
that  it  is  easier  for  a  judge  to  be  sym- 
pathetic with  a  particular  individual 
criminal  whom  he  may  have  to  sentence 
— a  murderer,  forger,  wife-beater — if 
there  are  exceptionally  appealing  cir- 
cumstances, than  to  be  sympathetic 
with  a  miscellaneous  lot  of  milk- wagon 
drivers,  for  example,  who  by  their 
strike  appear  to  be  the  direct  cause  of 
much  inconvenience  or  suffering  in  the 
community,  or  with  railway  employees 
or  coal  miners,  when  the  supply  of  a 


necessary  service  or  commodity  is  at 
stake. 

It  is  a  race  between  the  better  eco- 
nomic education  of  judges  and  of  the 
legal  profession  from  which  they  are 
necessarily  drawn  and  the  disaster 
which  is  silrely  involved  in  a  complete 
and  irrevocable  loss  of  confidence  in 
the  courts  on  the  part  of  the  majority 
in  industrial  communities,  or  of  so 
large  a  minority  that,  as  in  the  case  of 
several  European  nations,  it  may  act 
like  a  majority.  The  present  issue  be- 
tween the  courts  and  the  conservative 
American  Federation  of  Labor  in  the 
use  of  injunctions  is  a  straw  which  indi- 
cates currents  of  the  wind.  The  storm 
has  long  been  brewing.  Such  injunc- 
tions as  have  frequently  and  of  late 
increasingly  appeared  in  labor  cases 
will  be  increasingly  opposed  and  per- 
haps defied.  New  legislation,  or  wiser 
and  more  discriminating  action  by  the 
courts,  may  prevent  the  growth  of 
revolutionary  hostility. 

The  remedy  for  the  precarious  state 
into  which  the  courts  have  drifted  is 
neither  new  nor  startling.  It  is  the 
remedy  which  Bar  Associations  and  all 
thoughtful  jurists  advocate :  the  careful 
selection  of  candidates  for  judicial  office 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest;  selection 
based  upon  character,  learning,  a  judi- 
cial temper,  strict  impartiality,  keen- 
ness of  understanding,  a  knowledge 
not  only  of  the  frame-work  of  the  law 
but  also  of  contemporaneous  devel- 
opments in  industry  and  commerce, 
capacity  for  discarding  traditional  atti- 
tudes which  no  longer  correspond  to 
facts  and  courage  in  applying  new 
knowledge — such  qualities,  for  exam- 
ple, as  have  been  most  brilliantly  illus- 
trated by  the  two  distinguished  Bos- 
tonians  who  are  now  on  the  bench  of 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court  and 
as  are  equally  well  illustrated  by  the 
present  deans  of  several  law  schools. 
It  would  be  a  very  stimulating  thing 


10 


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Industrial  Conflict  and  the  Local  Community 


11 


for  the  President  to  make  the  next 
appointments  to  the  highest  court  and 
to  other  Federal  courts  from  among 
these  outstanding  modern  teachers  of 
the  law. 

Police  Departments 
Pohce  departments  are  seldom  ade- 
quately equipped  to  deal  with  the  dis- 
tiu-bances  incident  to  severe  mdustnal 
conflicts.     Their  ordinary  duties,  mis- 
cellaneous and  exacting  as  they  are,  do 
not   especially    prepare    the    ordmary 
policemen  for  handling   riotous   out- 
breaks, or  for  protecting  either  strike- 
breakers or  pickets.     The  state  militia 
has  not  in  practice  done  very  much 
better.     The   state   constabularies   or 
rangers  have  been  more  effective  in 
some  states,  as  far  as  the  preservation 
of  order  is  concerned,  but  they  have 
not  inspired  confidence  in  their  ability 
to  confine  their  activities  to  this  im- 
portant  service.     The   United   States 
Army  alone,  in  those  unfortunate  in- 
stances in  which  the  disturbance  has 
been  grave  enough  to  call  for  federal 
intervention,    has    been    well   enough 
officered  and  disciplined  to  know  how 
to   preserve   order   without   becoming 
partisan.     The  experience  of  the  offi- 
cers   in    charge    of    the    government 
troops  in  such  instances  has  not  been 
such  as  to  make  them  especially  keen 
about  this  kind  of  service. 

The  successful  use  of  federal  troops 
in  this  way,  however,  has  not  been 
without  its  effect  on  local  police  de- 
partments. They  should  be  equipped 
and  instructed  for  service  in  every 
emergency,  and  industrial  conflicts  are 
now  likely  to  be  among  the  most 
frequent  of  emergencies.  They  must 
learn  the  best  means  of  controlling 
dangerous  mobs,  of  preventing  riots,  of 
quelling  them  while  they  are  incipient, 
of  preventing  lawless  and  illegal  acts, 
while  respecting  both  individual  and 
collective    rights.     They  ,^  must  ilearn 


the  difference  between  strikers  and 
rioters,  between  pickets  and  vagrants, 
between  incitement  to  riot  and  that 
chaffing  which  all  disciplined  soldiers 
and  policemen  take  good-naturedly  at 
its  real  value.  But  it  is  not  only  the 
individual  policeman  who  requires  in- 
struction, training  and  discipline.  Be- 
hind the  policeman  there  must  be  a 
clarified  and  law-abiding  public  opin- 
ion. There  must  be  a  cheerful  tax- 
payer, ready  to  furnish  a  police  force 
large  enough  and  sufficiently  equipped. 
Much  more  important  even  than  this 
is  the  need  for  a  citizenry  ready  to 
back  up  the  police  in  a  reasonable  dis- 
play of  force  when  this  is  necessary, 
in  every  courageous  performance  of 

duty. 

The  federal  soldier  may  be  individ- 
ually far  less  capable  than  the  individual 
policeman,  but  he  has  the  prestige  and 
the   authority,   with   the   government 
behind  him,  and  his  bearing  is  both 
more  confident  and  more  restrained. 
He  is  less  nervous  and  less  likely  to  be  a 
bully.    The  local  policeman  is  of  course 
more  likely  to  have  personal  friends 
among  the  strikers  than  a  state  con- 
stable or  a  federal  soldier.    He  is  more 
likely  to  be  subjected  to  the  annoyance 
of  a  personal  complaint  by  some  ag- 
grieved citizen  who  may  have  influence 
with  his  superiors.    He  is  even  apt  to 
have  personal  views  on  the  merits  of 
the  controversy.     There  must  be  all 
the    more  determined  effort  to  keep 
the  policemen  impartial,   above  per- 
sonal   partisanships    or    resentments, 
confident  of  recognition  and  support  if 
he  remains  cool,  good  tempered  and 
courageous.     If  his  provocations  are 
greater  than  those  of  a  state  constable 
or  federal  soldier,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  will  be  on  the  ground  earlier,  he  will 
know  the  local  conditions  better,  and 
his  interest  in  upholding  the  good  name 
of  the  community  for  order  and  fair 
dealing  is  stronger.    Those  who  have 


^^ 


)•' 


the  opportunity  to  influence  local  pub- 
lic opinion  in  regard  to  industrial 
conflicts  can  do  no  better  service  than 
to  put  a  discriminating  and  vigorous 
public  sentiment  behind  those  police- 
men who  with  tact,  skill,  good  judgment 
and  if  necessary  with  self-sacrificing 
heroism,  keep  the  peace  while  indus- 
trial conflict  rages. 

Business  Organizations 

The  chambers  of  commerce,  rotary 
clubs,  and  other  associations  made  up 
mainly   of   business   men,    sometimes 
assume  to  be  more  representative  of 
the  community  than  they  really  are. 
They  usually  include  clergymen,  law- 
yers, editors  and  teachers.     They  often 
have  some  subordinate  representatives 
of  manufacturing  or  business  houses 
as  well  as  the  heads.    They  seldom 
have  serious  representation  of  labor. 
They  reflect  the  psychology  of  bankers, 
brokers,  merchants  or  manufacturers. 
These  are  of  course  exceedingly  impor- 
tant factors  in  the  community,  and 
they  are  entitled  to  their  organs  for 
creating,  expressing,  and  propagating 
their    own   interpretation    of   current 
issues.     It  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that 
organizations  of  this  type  should  follow 
the  example  of  the  New  Jersey  State 
Chamber  of  Commerce  in  relying  upon 
a  qualified  technical  bureau  for  the 
study  of  subjects  on  which  they  are  to 
express  opinions.     The  more  common 
practice   is   to   appoint   a   committee 
which  merely  puts  on  paper  opinions 
already  current,  snap-shot  judgments, 
even  on  very  complicated  and  con- 
troversial questions. 

Frequently  even  this  formality  is 
omitted  and  a  body  which  purports  to 
represent  the  whole  community  will 
commit  itself  by  resolution,  with  no 
further  information  than  is  attained  by 
listening  to  an  after-luncheon  partisan 
address  or  to  an  obviously  propagan- 
dist circular  letter.    Those  who  have 


a  strong  sense  of  community,  whose 
sympathies  are  broad  enough  to  em- 
brace the  interests  of  both  wage- 
earners  and  employers,  women  and 
men,  farmers  and  dwellers  in  town, 
foreign-born  and  native,  will  not  be  too 
much  impressed  by  the  action  of  com- 
mercial organizations  unless  there  is 
evidence  that  their  action  rests  upon 
sympathies  as  broad  as  their  own. 
Business  men,  however  intelligent  and 
broad-minded,  cannot  speak  for  work- 
ingmen  as  well  as  the  latter,  however 
inarticulate,  can  speak  for  themselves. 
Either  the  civic  bodies  so-called  must 
be  more  inclusive  in  their  membership, 
or  their  views  must  be  taken  for  what 
they  are:  fragmentary,  perhaps  sound 
and  perhaps  unsound;  one  sided,  per- 
haps right-sided  and  perhaps  wrong- 
sided,  in  any  particular  controversy. 

Labor  Organizations 

The  world  of  labor,  like  that  of  busi- 
ness, is  accustomed  to  think  of  itself  as 
self-sufficient.    Their   illusion    is   not 
often  so  complete.    They  are  reminded 
often  enough  that  there  are  other  cir- 
cles outside  of  and  often  hostile  to  their 
own.    They  are  aware  of  these  outside 
groups  but  not  always  fair  to  them. 
They  resent  sometimes — because  com- 
ing from  the  outside — what  are  quite 
genuine  efforts  to  promote  causes  in 
which  they  should  be  interested  and 
in  fact  are  interested  when  identified 
with  labor.    Labor  looks  to  its  own 
press,  its  own  unions,  its  own  leader- 
shii;>  for  light  on  labor  questions.     In 
this,  labor  resembles  business,  and  per- 
haps some  other  organized  interests, 
say  religion.     But  these  closed  charmed 
circles,  whether  religious  or  economic, 
are    all   equally    inimical    to    normal 
human  relations.    Labor,  like  business, 
is  entitled  to  its  organs  for  creating, 
expressing  and  propagating  its  news. 
When  trades  councils  speak  they  are 
speaking,  and  are  fully  conscious  that 


12 


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Industrial  Conflict  and  the  Local  Community 


18 


they  are  speaking,  for  only  one  side. 
Nevertheless,  they  will  get  a  hearing  in 
proportion  as  they  are  able  to  identify 
their  interests  with  those  of  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole,  and  in  order  to  do 
this  they  have  need  of  broad  and  veri- 
fied knowledge,  such  as  can  come  only 
from  the  cooperation  of  expert  investi- 
gators, w^ho  may  be  at  the  same  time 
absolutely  loyal  to  the  interests  of 
labor,  while  also  loyal  to  scientific 
method  and  the  truth. 

The  Churches 

The  churches  represent  a  different 
approach   to   industrial   conflict.     By 
hypothesis  they  are  neither  partisans 
nor,  like  the  courts  and  police,  indiffer- 
ent   as    between    parties.     They    are 
against   conflict   and  for  cooperation 
whenever  conflicting  interests  can  be 
reconciled  or  a  basis  found  for  coopera- 
tion.    The  finding  of  a  basis  and  the 
reconciliation   of   conflicting   interests 
may  be  their  special  task.     They  are 
for  a  way  of  life  in  which  service  rather 
than  exploitation,  good  will  rather  than 
conflict,  the  truth  which  frees  rather 
than  the  partial  error  which  binds  and 
blinds,  are  a  matter  of  course.     They 
are   divided   among   themselves,    but 
not  on  industrial  questions.     Against 
violence,  injustice,  oppression,  hatred, 
every   religion   lifts    its   voice,    every 
church  protests.     That  they  have  a 
clear  duty  to  assert  their  principles, 
their  faith,  in  the  midst  of  the  local 
conflict  is  now  scarcely  denied.    Just 
as  the  courts  and  the  peace  officers 
have  to  uphold  law,  so  the  churches 
have  to  uphold  good  will.     They  must 
insist   on  righteousness   as   firmly   as 
the  courts  insist  on  law-abidingness, 
although  the  means  by  which  they  are 
respectively  to  be  upheld  are  different. 
The    courts    pronounce    verdicts    en- 
forced by  sheriffs.     The  churches  pro- 
nounce judgments  enforced  by  moral 
influence.    Alas  for  the  churches  which 


find  their  influence  gone  because  they 
have  not  exercised  it,  because  they 
have  frittered  it  away  on  issues  which 
are  trivial. 

The  churches  have  their  standards, 
by  which  the  conduct  of  strikers  and 
strike-breakers,  employing  corpora- 
tions and  their  stockholders,  courts  and 
police,  army  or  constabulary,  may  be 
judged.  The  community  has  a  right 
to  look  to  the  churches  to  hold  high 
these  standards  and  in  time  of  confu- 
sion and  uncertainty  to  apply  them  in 
no  uncertain  terms.  The  churches, 
like  chambers  of  commerce  and  trade- 
unions,  have  need  of  expert  assistance 
in  securing  the  information  on  which 
righteous  judgments  may  be  based. 
The  inquiry  into  the  facts  made  for  the 
churches  differs  in  no  respect  from  the 
inquiry  to  be  made  for  any  other  body 
which  needs  the  same  facts.  There  is 
no  such  thing  as  a  religious  investiga- 
tion of  industrial  controversy;  but 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  religious  reac- 
tion to  the  results  of  the  investigation. 
There  is  a  distinct  part  for  the  churches 
to  play  in  the  final  determination  of  the 
relation  between  the  community  and 
industrial  conflict. 

Citizen  Committees 

Circumstances  may  be  such  as  to 
justify  and  require  the  intervention 
of  a  special  committee.  The  strikers 
may  get  out  of  hand  and  through  a 
general  strike  imperil  vital  interests 
of  society.  The  employers  may  seize 
virtual  control  of  courts,  constabulary, 
and  organs  of  public  opinion,  and 
threaten  even  more  obviously  vital 
interests.  There  might  be  no  indica- 
tion of  power  of  recovery  on  the  part  of 
the  recognized  social  institutions.  In 
self  defense,  the  community  may  have 
to  reorganize  itself  to  afford  the  '*  first 
aid"  required,  as  to  an  asphyxiated 
sufferer.  More  frequently,  the  com- 
mittee may  be  needed  merely  to  enable 


v\ 


the  people,  harassed  by  conflicting  evi- 
dence, to  find  out  the  truth.     Such 
committees  have  now  and  then  been 
of  service  as  intermediaries  at  critical 
moments.      Generally,    however,    an 
official  mediator  can  better  perform 
that  service.     The  special  committee 
is  most  useful  in  getting  at  the  disputed 
facts,  putting  on  record  the  results  of 
its  inquiries  and  interpreting  its  issues. 
Its  members  must  expect  to  be  criti- 
cized and  even  vilified.     It  is  not  a 
service  for  unduly  sensitive  souls.     The 
outstanding  instance  of  great  service  of 
this  kind  is  not  a  purely  local  inquiry, 
but  is  one  in  which  the  interest  was 
nation-wide,     and    the    investigating 
body  drawn  also  from  the  entire  coun- 
try— the  Commission  of  Inquiry  of  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement,  which 
investigated  the  steel  strike  of  1919. 

The  Press 

The  newspapers  are  the  natural  and 
universal  points  of  contact  between  the 
local  community  and  the  parties  to  an 
industrial  conflict.     What  the  general 
public  knows  about  the  issues  involved, 
it  gets  chiefly  through  the  daily  press — 
and  chiefly  through  the  headlines  at 
that.     In  advance  of  a  strike  the  public 
mind  is  prepared  by  the  editors  and 
reporters.     While  it  is  in  progress,  a 
few  will  see  for  themselves,  but  even 
the  incidents  of  the  struggle  are  known 
to  most  as  the  press  reports  them. 
When  a  settlement  is  made  its  terms 
are  understood  as  the  press  records  and 
interprets  them.     After  it  is  over  the 
sediment  of  resentment  or  satisfaction, 
as  the  case  may  be,  is  such  as  the  news- 
papers have  discovered  and  preserve. 
This  is  not  true  of  every  section  of  the 
community.     Employers    have    their 
secret  service  whose  information  may 
remain  on  file  for  future  use.     The 
workers  have  their  personal  and  pooled 
experiences,  the  memory  of  which  re- 
mains.    The  churches  in  rare  instances 


may  gradually  accumulate  the  elements 
of  a  community  conscience  and  mem- 
ory.    The  courts  add  to  their  prece- 
dents.    All  these  elements  enter,   in 
some  degree;  but  as  a  rule,  except  in  so 
far  as  they  are  reflected  in  newspaper 
stories,  headlines  and  comments,  they 
affect  only  a  few  individuals  or  groups. 
The  labor  world  itself  is  not  so  organ- 
ized that  experiences  of  conflict,  and 
the    subsequent    memory    of    them, 
become   a   common  possession.     The 
press  is  therefore  the  source,  or  at  least 
the  medium,  from  which  the  commu- 
nity learns  about  industrial  conflicts, 
present,  past  and  impending. 

It  is  difficult  to  make  any  general 
statement  about  the  press  in  its  rela- 
tion to  industrial  struggles  to  which  ex- 
ception could  not  be  taken,  supported 
by  illustrations.     That  employers  have 
more  reason  on  the  whole  than  wage- 
earners  to  be  satisfied  with  the  news- 
papers could  no  doubt  be  proved.     As 
in  the  case  of  the  courts,  they  would 
probably   attribute   this   not   to   any 
venality  or  partisanship  of  the  owners 
or    editors    of    the    newspapers,    but 
merely  to  what  seems  to  them  an  obvi- 
ous fact — that  strikers  and  dissatisfied 
workers  generally  are  almost  certain  to 
be  in  the  wrong,  to  be  ignorant  and 
stupid  people  under  the  influence  of 
radical    agitators.    Naturally,    there- 
fore, their  acts  cannot  be  presented 
otherwise  than  in  an  unfavorable,  if  not 
absurd,  light,  and  naturally  employers, 
coming  from  the  better  educated  and 
intelligent  classes  of  society,  and  know- 
ing their  business  in  its  larger  aspects, 
are  more  likely  to  be  worthy  of  the 
favorable  showing  which  they  receive. 
What  labor  leaders  have  to  say  in  an 
acute  conflict  is  of  course  news,  and 
as  such  will  be  reported.     There  are 
limits  beyond  which  no  self-respecting 
newspaper  will  go  in  suppressing  or 
ignoring   the   grievances   of   workers, 
once  they  have  been  clearly  formulated 


14 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


Industrial  Conflict  and  the  Local  Community 


15 


and  established.  Numerous  instances 
could  be  cited  of  complete  impartiality 
in  presenting  the  two  or  more  sides  of 
particular  controversies.  The  compe- 
tition of  the  labor  press,  and  the 
large  circulation  of  certain  newspapers, 
which  are  as  capitalistic  as  any  but 
cater  to  working  people  for  sales,  have 
created  a  certain  security  against  the 
stifling  of  real  news  merely  because  it  is 
favorable  to  labor's  side  of  a  contro- 
versy. This  is  not  to  say,  however, 
that  in  particular  communities  the  con- 
trary may  not  be  true.  The  papers 
which  circulate  in  the  tenements  may 
be  influenced  by  personal  or  political 
considerations,  which  in  a  given  case 
may  lead  them  to  betray  the  very 
causes  which  they  are  supposed  to 
represent.  Personal  idiosyncrasies  of 
publisher  or  editor  may  suddenly  dis- 
tort the  news  as  well  as  the  editorial 
interpretation  of  it.  In  a  particular 
city  the  whole  level  of  the  press,  its 
standards  of  journalistic  ethics,  may 
be  incredibly  low.  If  so,  the  labor 
side  of  any  serious  conflict  is  apt  to 
have  a  very  raw  deal.  What  is  worse, 
the  community  is  very  likely  to  have 
misinformation  and  inadequate  infor- 
mation. 

The  real  grievance  of  the  community 
with  the  press  is  less  that  there  is  bias 
than  that  there  is  lack  of  enterprise. 
The  newspapers  do  not  see  the  op- 
portunities for  legitimate  journalistic 
effort  which  lie  in  exploring  the  dark 
continent  of  industrial  anarchy.  The 
wastes  of  industry  which  the  engineer- 
ing societies  have  been  calling  attention 
to  have  long  been  crying  aloud  to 
Heaven  for  exposure  and  correction. 
The  pubUc  would  be  interested  in 
knowing  from  the  newspapers,  if  they 
would  take  the  trouble  to  find  out, 
what  is  really  wrong  with  the  building 
and  textile  industries,  the  railroads, 
the  mining  of  coal.  There  is  no  reason 
why  the  press  should  wait  for  strikes 


and  for  Lockwood  Committees.  It  is 
praiseworthy  that  they  should  report 
the  strikes  and  the  testimony  extorted 
by  Mr.  Untermeyer,  but  the  facts  are 
there  and  would  be  news  if  brought  out 
quite  independently  of  such  accidental 
or  cataclysmic  incidents.  Crooked 
practices,  whether  involving  so-called 
labor  leaders  or  contractors  or  financial 
backers,  can  ordinarily  be  discovered 
more  easily  by  newspapers  than  by 
grand  juries  or  district  attorneys.  It 
should  be  regarded  as  a  reflection  on 
the  press  for  the  public  to  learn  about 
them  first  from  a  legislative  inquiry. 
If  the  Associated  Press  would  send 
some  of  its  best  trained  war  corre- 
spondents into  the  coal,  steel,  railway, 
and  textile  territory,  or  even  its  cub 
reporters  to  the  chambers  of  commerce 
to  study  the  open  shop  movement,  the 
community  might  get  a  service  which 
is  now  lacking  or  very  inadequately 
performed. 

The  Schools 

That  the  schools  should  have  any 
relation  to  industrial  conflict  may  seem 
preposterous,  and  that  they  should  be 
included  among  the  points  of  contact 
may  even  arouse  resentment.  A  vet- 
eran war  correspondent  has  made  an 
inquiry  in  Germany,  France  and  Eng- 
land concerning  the  manner  in  which 
the  causes,  events  and  results  of  the 
World  War  are  taught  in  the  public 
schools  of  those  countries.  He  finds 
that  they  are  not  taught  at  all.  There 
is  no  agreement  as  to  textbooks  or  as 
to  what  shall  be  taught;  and  therefore 
these  children  are  growing  up  with  little 
or  no  information  about  the  history  of 
the  past  ten  years,  no  impressions 
about  the  most  important  events  in  all 
recorded  history,  except  what  they 
get  from  their  parents,  at  any  rate, 
no  instruction  from  those  who  are 
charged  with  the  special  task  of  teach- 
ing them.     This  extraordinary  gap  in 


Ji 


i) 


the  preparation  of  European  children 
is    matched    by    an    almost    equally 
serious  and  perhaps  equally  unavoid- 
able   omission    in    our    own    schools. 
The  World  War  presents  little  diffi- 
culty  to    oiu-   textbook    writers    and 
teachers;  but  the  industrial  conflict, 
the  struggle  for  industrial  democracy, 
we  have  not  yet  so  much  as  begun  to 
conceive  as  a  suitable  subject  of  instruc- 
tion.    We  allow  our  children  to  get 
their    preparation   for    industrial    life 
from  their  parents  and  playmates,  just 
as  the  Europeans  are  aUowing  theirs 
to    get    their    only    preparation    for 
national  and  international  citizenship 
from    the    same    sources.     There    are 
many  things  which  might  be  done  to 
fill  this  gap.     Social  economics  can  be 
taught  non-controversially  as  well  as 
civics.     There   are    many   aspects    of 
industrial  organization  which  do  not 
arouse  antagonisms,  and  these  at  least 
could  be  taught.     The  field  of  indus- 
trial  conflict   could  be  narrowed  by 
presenting  those  subjects  to  which  ex- 
ception is  not  likely  to  be  taken.     Not 
in  the  hour  of  conflict,  but  when  it  can 
be  prevented  by  rational  instruction  in 
the  principles  of  social  economics,  the 
schools  may  advantageously  be  brought 
more  directly  into  relation  with  the 
general  subject  of  industrial  conflict, 
its  causes,  its  manifestations,  its  reme- 
dies, its  prevention. 

Private  Citizens 
American  experience  richly  illus- 
trates the  important  role  that  individ- 
ual citizens  may  play  in  preventing, 
mitigating,  adjusting,  or  unfortunately 
in  precipitating  and  aggravating,  indus- 
trial   conflict.     Obviously,    therefore. 


everything  that  can  be  done  to  increase 
the  number  of  individuals  in  every 
occupation  who  have  some  under- 
standing of  underlying  industrial  facts, 
and  of  the  facts  which  influence  social 
behavior,  will  have  its  bearing  in  the 
moment  of  crisis.  Again  the  inference 
is  clear  that  disinterested  expert  in- 
quiry and  the  dissemination  of  its 
results  are  the  prime  essentials. 

Public  Opinion 

The   community   is   more   than   its 
various  elements  separately  analyzed. 
It  is  a  living  unit.     Its  pubHc  opinion 
is   not   the   arithmetical   sum   of  the 
contributions  made  by  press,  church, 
courts  and  other  organs  of  public  opin- 
ion.    There  is  an  intangible  spiritual 
factor,   a  genius  loci,  struggling  per- 
haps, as  the  ancients  believed,  against 
adverse  or  alien  spirits  for  the  well- 
being  of  the  people.     If  the  intangible 
public  spirit  of  the  community  is  really 
benignant,  tolerant,  socially  generous, 
this  will  not  be  by  accident.     It  will  be 
the  direct  result  of  community  think- 
ing, community  studies,  mutual  correc- 
tion of  various  partial  views,  growth  in 
the  special  virtues  which  distinguish 
a  community  from  an   unassimilated 
aggregation  of  human  beings.     If  the 
community  is  to  have  a  helpful  relation 
to  industrial  conflict,  it  wiU  be  because 
its    local    government,    courts,    press, 
churches,  civic  bodies,  trade  unions, 
homes,    and    individual    citizens    are 
learning  as  they  go  along  what  conflict 
means,  its  origins  and  its  costs,  the 
means  of  control  and  prevention.     Our 
facihties  for  getting  such  knowledge 
are  meager. 


The  State  and  Industrial  Conflict 

By  W.  Jett  Lauck 

Formerly  Secretary  of  the  National  War  Labor  Board 


7/' 


IT  is  essential  that  there  should  be 
definite  and  unprecedented  action 
bv  the  state  in  connection  with  indus- 
trial  warfare.  This  action  should  not 
be  prohibitive  or  coercive,  but  remedial 
and  preventative.  There  should  be  no 
anti-strike  legislation,  but  measures 
should  be  adopted  under  which  strikes 
will  not  occur. 

The  state  must  lay  down  the  condi- 
tions under  which  industry'  shall  func- 
tion. At  the  present  time,  there  are,  in 
this  country,  no  accepted  principles  for 
the  guidance  or  regulation  of  industrial 
relations.  The  public,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  some  fundamental  guarantees, 
such  as  the  right  of  a  wage-earner  to 
strike,  to  work  for  whom  he  pleases,  and 
for  an  employer  to  enjoy  property  pro- 
tection and  to  employ  whomsoever  he 
pleases,  has  not  established  any  course 
of  procedure  for  the  guidance  of  em- 
ployers and  employees.  Capital  and 
labor  have  been  left  to  themselves — to 
agree  as  to  conditions  and  relations,  or 
to  fight  it  out. 

It  has  been  assumed  that  the  two 
parties  to  the  labor  question  could 
agree,  or  work  out  their  own  basis  of 
procedure.  This  assumption,  however 
has  been  found  to  be  unsound.  There 
has  been  no  agreement,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, more  extensive  and  bitter  conflict. 
The  stage  has  now  been  reached  where 
there  is  no  hope  of  agreement.  The 
public  must  intervene,  and,  by  legisla- 
tive action,  lay  dowTi  the  rights  of  labor, 
the  rights  of  capital,  and  the  predomi- 
nant rights  of  the  public,  and  establish 
the  machinery  for  the  interpretation 
and  adjudication  of  these  rights.  A 
Magna  Carta  for  industry  must  be 
written  and  sanctioned,  in  accordance 


with    our   democratic    standards    and 
ideals. 

Principles  and  Machinery 

Principles  are  of  primary  significance. 
Machinery,  or  agencies  for  the  settle- 
ment of  industrial  disputes,  are  of 
secondary  importance.  The  difficulty 
has  been  that  in  state  intervention  in 
industrial  conflict  in  the  past,  adjust- 
ment machinery  has  been  considered 
all-important  and  no  attention  has  been 
given  to  principles,  or  to  an  industrial 
code,  or  bill  of  rights  for  capital  and 
labor. 

This  tendency  is  well  illustrated  by 
the  two  most  noteworthy  agencies 
which  have  recently  been  created  for 
the  adjustment  of  labor  controversies 
— the  United  States  Railroad  Labor 
Board  and  the  Kansas  Court  of  Indus- 
trial Relations.  Neither  the  rights  of 
capital  nor  labor,  in  submitting  to  those 
tribunals,  are  known.  It  all  depends 
on  the  tribunal  or  its  personnel.  There 
should  in  each  case  be  a  code  of  prin- 
ciples mandatory  upon  each  agency, 
setting  forth  the  attitude  of  the  public 
as  to  the  fundamental  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  capital  and  labor,  which  either 
party  to  a  controversy  could  invoke. 
When  an  employer  or  a  wage-earner, 
under  these  conditions,  was  summoned 
before  agencies  such  as  the  Kansas 
Court  of  Industrial  Relations  or  the 
United  States  Railroad  Labor  Board, 
he  would  know  what  his  rights  were  and 
could  expect  any  controversy  to  be 
adjusted  on  the  basis  of  these  rights  or 
principles.  As  it  is  now,  since  labor 
and  capital  have  been  unable  to  agree 
as  to  fundamental  rights  and  principles, 
and  since  the  public  has  failed  to  give 


The  State  and  Industrial  Conflict 


17 


fe 


16 


expression  to  any  code,  industrial  con- 
flict inevitably  results  with  great  loss  to 
the  public  and  to  the  participants,  and 
even  when  agencies  are  created  for  the 
orderly  adjustment  of  disputes,  no 
permanent  progress  towards  industrial 
])eace  is  made,  because  no  lasting  sanc- 
tion to  any  principle  results.  It  is 
manifestly  the  duty  of  the  public  to 
sanction  a  bill  of  rights,  in  conformity 
with  our  democratic  institutions  and 
ideals,  for  the  guidance  of  industrial 
relations  and  conditions,  and  for  the 
direction  of  all  public  bodies  charged 
with  the  responsibility  of  adjusting 
labor  disputes. 

A  Necessary  Supplement  to  Politi- 
cal Democracy 

It  has  required  more  than  a  century 
for  the  principles  and  forms  of  political 
democracy,  which  received  their  great 
impetus  from  the  French  Revolution, 
to  find  acceptance  among  the  nations  of 
Northern  and  ^Yestern  Europe.  More 
striking  than  this  slow  development, 
however,  is  the  fact  that  now,  at  the 
very  culmination  of  the  movement,  it 
is  generally  accepted  by  enlightened 
opinion  in  all  of  our  leading  industrial 
and  commercial  nations,  that  the  politi- 
cal democracy,  for  which  we  have  so 
long  fought  and  struggled,  will  be  a 
failure  unless  it  is  supplemented  by 
sound  measures  for  the  attainment  of 
industrial  democracy. 

This  consensus  of  opinion  may  be 
perhaps  more  or  less  unconscious  and 
uncrystallized  at  present,  but  it  is  none 
the  less  apparent.  It  concedes  that  as 
the  result  of  a  long  struggle,  equality 
in  political  activity  and  in  personal  and 
civil  libertv  has  been  secured.  It 
realizes  that  the  World  War  had  for  its 
object  the  destruction  of  autocracy  and 
privilege  in  their  last  stand  against 
democratic  political  control.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  shown  that,  along  with 


the  evolution  of  political  democracy, 
has  proceeded  our  wonderful  industrial 
development.  Its  main  characteristic 
has  been  the  growth  of  large  scale  pro- 
duction. By  the  bringing  together  of 
all  the  elements  entering  into  the  manu- 
facture of  finished  products,  and  by  the 
utilization  of  new  inventions  and  me- 
chanical genius,  economies  have  been 
secured  which  have  made  possible  the 
production  of  commodities  in  great 
quantities  at  low  costs.  The  necessary 
direction  of  large  scale  production  has 
been  secured,  however,  by  the  creation 
of  artificial  legal  personages,  or,  in  other 
words,  by  industrial  corporations,  in 
which  have  gradually  become  centered 
on  a  national  or  international  scale,  the 
control  of  basic  industries  employing 
thousands  of  men  and  women  engaged 
in  the  production  of  commodities  essen- 
tial to  the  public  well-being. 

The  point  has  now  been  reached,  it  is 
claimed,  at  which  these  industrial  cor- 
porations must  be  subordinated  to 
democratic,  political  institutions.  Un- 
less we  can  have  democracy  in  indus- 
try and  democratic  control  of  industry, 
our  political  institutions  which  have 
been  developed  with  so  much  bloodshed 
and  suffering  will  be  futile  and  ineffec- 
tive. The  significance  of  the  present- 
day  unrest  and  turmoil  whether  in 
industrial  warfare  or  social  agitation 
may  therefore  be  said  to  arise  from  the 
fact  that  the  close  of  the  World  War 
marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  concep- 
tion of  democracy. 

Policies  Which  are  Advocated 

With  the  general  purpose  in  mind  of 
bringing  our  industrial  institutions  into 
harmonious  relations  with  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  political  democ- 
racy, several  comprehensive  programs 
have  been  put  forward.  Some  of  these 
are  extremely  radical,  others  liberal 
and  still  others  conservative.     These 


)*-> 

"^   7 


4 


18 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


programs  may  be  briefly  classified  as 
follows: 

1.  Maintenance  with  Modifications  of 
the  Present  Dominance  of  Capital  in 
Industry. — • 

This  point  of  view  represents  an  ef- 
fort on  the  part  of  the  existing  order  to 
get  into  touch  with  the  new  order  by 
yielding  only  what  may  be  termed  the 
minimum  concessions.  It  is  illustrated 
by  the  plans  for  railway  reorganization 
put  forward  in  19^20  by  the  United 
States  Chamber  of  Commerce.  They 
included  union  recognition,  joint  boards 
composed  equally  of  employers  and 
employees  for  the  adjustment  of  differ- 
ences between  the  working  forces  and 
the  management,  labor  representation 
on  the  boards  of  directors  of  Regional 
Railway  Corporations,  and  the  regula- 
tion by  the  government  of  railway  cor- 
poration finance  and  security  issues. 
This  plan  may  be  described  as  public 
control  of  corporate  activities  in  the 
public  interest,  joint  labor  and  capital 
control  of  industrial  conditions  and  re- 
lations under  public  supervision,  and 
the  continuance  under  these  conditions 
of  industry  by  capital  with  minority 
labor  representation  in  the  directing 
forces.  This  plan,  however,  concedes  a 
very  distinct  modification  of  the  previ- 
ous dominance  of  capital  in  industry  as 
can  be  readily  seen. 

2.  The  Dominance  of  Labor. — 

This  plan  received  its  extreme  appli- 
cation, as  is  well  known,  in  Russia.  It 
is  also  being  urged  in  a  modified  way  in 
Great  Britain  in  the  form  of  guild 
socialism,  as  a  method  for  socializing 
industry  by  which  industries  would  be 
controlled  by  labor  under  the  general 
supervision  of  the  state  as  an  arbitra- 
tor. The  same  reasons  hold  against  it 
as  are  now  directed  against  the  domi- 
nance of  capital  on  the  ground  that 
neither  an  autocracy  of  capital  nor  of 
labor  is  wise  or  desirable. 


3.  Joint   Control  by  Labor  and  Man- 
agement.— 

This  scheme  for  socialization  of  in- 
dustry practically  makes  the  state  or 
government  the  capitalist  by  providing 
for  government  purchase  of  industrial 
enterprises  which  are  then  to  be  oper- 
ated for  the  benefit  of  labor,  manage- 
ment and  the  pubHc,  by  distinct  cor- 
porations, the  directors  of  which  are  to 
be  representative  of  employees,  mana- 
gers and  the  public,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Plumb  Plan  for  railway  nationaliza- 
tion in  this  country,  or  operation  by  a 
joint  board  of  directors  composed  of 
labor  and  management,  as  recommended 
by  the  British  railway  employees  after 
the  War,  or  by  the  Miners*  Federation 
of  Great  Britain  before  the  Sankey 
Commission  for  the  consideration  of 
measures  for  the  nationalization  of  the 
coal  industry.  The  criticism  which  is 
made  against  these  proposals  is  that  in 
actual  practice  there  is  no  real  distinc- 
tion between  industrial  managers  and 
other  forms  of  mental  or  physical  labor 
employed  in  industry,  and  that  these 
programs,  therefore,  practically  advo- 
cate a  socialization  of  industry  and  its 
operation  by  a  labor  autocracy. 

4.  State   or  Municipal  Ownership  and 
Operation. — 

This  proposal  obviously  provides  for 
the  acquisition  and  direct  operation  of 
industry  by  the  state.  It  is  advocated 
in  connection  with  street  railways  and 
other  public  utihties  in  this  country. 
As  regards  public  utilities  at  least  this 
policy  is  acknowledged  to  be  theoreti- 
cally sound,  but,  practically,  very  diffi- 
cult in  the  United  States  because  our 
experience  has  shown  that  it  so  often 
leads  to  the  improper  use  of  political 
power  upon  the  management  of  public 
utilities. 

5.  The  Predominance  of  the  Public. — 

Proposals  along  these  lines  have  been 
put  forward  in  this  country  in  connec- 


y^ 


The  State  and  Industrial  Conflict 


19 


' 


<,>!:> 


^ 


vl^ 


1^ 


tion  with  the  socialization  of  public 
utilities.  They  provide  for  the  acquisi- 
tion of  corporation  properties  by  the 
state  or  government,  but  their  opera- 
tion by  a  distinct  corporation  on  the 
board  of  directors  of  which  the  public 
would  have  a  majority  free  from  politi- 
cal influence  or  affiliations  and  both 
labor  and  capital  would  have  minority 
representation. 

The  Origin  of  These  Constructive 
Programs 

These  constructive  programs  have 
been  brought  about  in  this  country  in 
recent  years  by  the  strongly  developed 
tendency  of  industry  to  dominate  our 
democratic  institutions.  A  conserva- 
tive movement  towards  reform  was 
being  inaugurated  prior  to  the  outbreak 
of  the  War.  As  the  result  of  the  promises 
of  the  war  period,  a  most  extraordinary 
impetus  was  given  to  this  movement. 
The  minds  of  men  were  also  opened  to 
the  significance  of  the  old  industrial 
conditions  and  they  have  evidently 
determined  that  they  shall  not  be  per- 
petuated. Out  of  the  War  has  come  the 
idea,  which  is  widely  accepted,  that 
industry  must  serve  the  common  good. 
The  fundamental  rights  of  capital  and 
labor,  it  is  claimed,  must  be  guaranteed 
and  protected,  but  there  must  be  no 
autocracy  of  either  or  both  in  industry. 
Industry,  in  other  words,  must  be 
democratized — the  public  or  popular 
interest  must  be  made  paramount. 

The  Present  Movement 

In  general,  it  is  aimed  to  bring  about 
this  ideal  in  two  ways.  In  the  first 
place,  the  general  direction  of  industry 
must  be  made  subordinate  to  the  fun- 
damental principles  and  ideals  of 
democracy.  This  is  what  may  be 
termed  the  larger  aspect  of  the  labor 
problem.  It  is  planned  to  accomplish 
it  by  political  action.  In  a  conserva- 
tive way,  it  contemplates  the  proper 


regulation  of  the  promoting  and  financ- 
ing of  industrial  corporations  so  that 
their  earnings  may  become  evident  and 
the  public  may  enjoy  an  equitable  par- 
ticipation in  these  earnings  through 
lower  prices  of  commodities  or  higher 
wages.  It  aims  to  abolish  all  monopoly 
privileges  and  special  legislative  favors, 
as  well  as  arbitrary  prices,  and  to  pre- 
vent the  conduct  of  industry  along  lines 
opposed  to  human  welfare,  such  as  the 
employment  of  women  and  children. 

The  Establishment  of  an  Indus- 
trial Bill  of  Rights 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  evident  that 
our  political  constitution  will  have  to 
be  supplemented  by  legislative  action 
in  establishing  an  industrial  code,  or  a 
bill  of  industrial  rights.  This  means 
the  incorporation  into  our  constitution 
of  certain  standards  and  guarantees  to 
labor  and  capital,  under  which  human 
and  property  rights  will  be  protected, 
and  the  public  interest  subserved.  This 
is  the  aspect  of  industrial  democracy 
with  which  we  are  at  present  immedi- 
ately and  practically  concerned.  We 
must  now  work  out  as  a  basis  of  proce- 
dure a  series  of  principles  which  will  set 
forth  the  fundamental  rights  and  stand- 
ards of  employees  and  employers  in 
their  relations  with  each  other  and  the 
public,  and  agree  upon  agencies  for  the 
interpretation  and  administration  of 
these  principles  so  that  industrial  war- 
fare may  be  prevented  and  stability  of 
production  maintained. 

Certain  fundamental  principles  were 
agreed  upon  by  employers  and  em- 
ployees and  officially  proclaimed  as  the 
government  policy  by  President  Wilson 
during  the  War  in  the  form  of  the  con- 
stitution of  the  National  War  Labor 
Board.  Since  the  armistice,  however, 
the  only  effort  which  has  been  put 
forward  in  this  connection  has  been  the 
so-called  Kenyon  Bill  for  the  regulation 
of  the  coal  mining  industry.    The  code 


20 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


contained  therein,  although  not  com- 
prehensive, might  well  be  used  by 
Congress  as  the  basis  for  a  beginning 
and  applied  to  all  firms  and  corpora- 
tions engaged  in  interstate  commerce. 
As  an  example  of  what  might  be  done, 
it  is  set  forth  in  part  below,  as  follows: 

1.  Iluiiian  standards  should  be  the  con- 
straining influence  in  fixing  the  wages  and 
working  conditions  of  mine  workers. 

2.  Capital  prudently  and  honestly  invest- 
ed m  the  coal  industry  should  have  an 
adequate  return. 

3.  The  right  of  operators  and  miners  to 
organize  is  recognized  and  affirmed.  This 
right  shall  not  be  denied,  abridged  or  inter- 
fered with  in  any  manner  whatsoever,  nor 
shall  coercive  measures  of  any  kind  be  used 
by  employers  or  employees,  or  by  their 
agents  or  representatives,  to  compel  or  to 
induce  employers  or  employees  to  exercise 
or  to  refrain  from  exercising  this  right. 

4.  The  right  of  operators  and  of  miners  to 
bargain  collectively  through  representatives 
of  their  own  choosing  is  recognized  and 
affirmed. 

5.  The  miners  who  are  not  members  of  a 
union  have  the  right  to  work  without  being 
harassed  by  fellow  workmen  who  may 
belong  to  unions.  The  men  who  belong  to  a 
union  have  the  right  to  work  without  being 
harassed  by  operators.  The  organizations 
have  a  right  to  go  into  non-union  fields  and 
by  peaceable  methods  try  to  persuade  men 
to  join  the  unions,  but  they  have  no  right  to 
try  to  induce  employees  to  violate  contracts 
which  they  have  entered  into  with  their 
employers,  and  the  operators,  on  the  other 
hand,  have  the  right  by  peaceable  means  to 
try  to  persuade  men  to  refrain  from  joining 
the  unions. 

6.  The  right  of  every  unskilled  common 
laborer  to  earn  a  living  wage  sufficient  to 
maintain  a  normal  family  in  health  and 
reasonable  comfort,  and  to  afford  an  oppor- 
tunity for  savings  against  unemployment, 
old  age,  and  other  contingencies  is  hereby 
declared  and  affirmed.  Above  this  basic 
wage  for  unskilled  workers,  differentials  in 
rates  of  pay  for  other  mine  workers  shall  be 
established  for  skill,  experience,  hazards  of 
employment  and  productive  efficiency. 

7.  The  right  of  women  to  engage  in  indus- 


trial occupations  is  recognized  and  affirmed; 
their  rates  of  pay  shall  be  tlie  same  as  those 
of  male  workers  for  the  same  or  equivalent 
service  performed;  they  shall  be  accorded 
all  the  rights  and  guarantees  granted  to 
male  workers  and  the  conditions  of  their 
employment  sludl  surround  them  with 
every  safeguard  of  their  health  and  strengtli 
and  guarantee  them  the  full  measure  of  pro- 
tection which  is  the  debt  of  society  to  moth- 
ers and  to  potential  mothers. 

8.  Children  under  the  age  of  sixteen 
years  shall  not  be  employed  in  the  mines. 

9.  Six  days  shall  be  the  standard  work 
week  in  the  industry  with  one  day's  rest 
in  seven.  Tlie  standard  workday  shall  not 
exceed  eight  hours  a  day. 

10.  Punitive  overtime  sludl  be  paid  for 
hours  worked  each  day  in  excess  of  the 
standard  workday. 

The  Existing  Situation 
The  rights  and  privileges  of  capital 
have  long  been  established  and  recog- 
nized. In  their  relation  to  democratic 
institutions  they  have,  during  recent 
years,  been  modified,  and,  although 
fundamentally  they  must  be  conserved 
in  a  just  and  reasonable  way,  they  must 
be  further  abridged  and  subordinated 
to  sound  democratic  ideals. 

The  rights  of  labor  have  not  as  yet 
become  cr^^  stallized  and  formally  sanc- 
tioned except  in  a  very  elementary  way. 
They  consist,  at  present,  largely  of  cus- 
toms and  precedents  established  in  cer- 
tain basic  industries,  of  standards  sanc- 
tioned by  enlightened  public  opinion, 
and  of  pronouncements  by  publicists, 
arbitration  boards,  political  parties,  the 
churches,  and  various  industrial  and 
social  conferences  and  organizations. 

So  far  as  industrial  relations  and 
conditions  are  concerned,  industry  is 
without  a  constitution  or  a  bill  of  rights. 
To  a  certain  extent  it  has  adjustment 
boards  or  courts,  either  temporary  or 
permanent,  but  there  are  no  rights 
which  an  employer  or  employee  can  in- 
voke when  he  submits  to  judicial  proc- 
ess, and  there  are  no  definite  princii)les 


The  State  and  Industrial  Conflict 


21 


• 


established  for  the  guidance  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  adjustment  agencies  them- 
selves. 

The  public  interest  is  paramount. 
Enlightened  public  opinion  is  practi- 
cally unanimous  as  to  what  principles 
should  be  established  for  the  guidance 
of  industrial  relations  and  conditions. 
Our  experience  since  the  War  has 
demonstrated  that  labor  and  capital 
cannot  be  expected  to  agree  upon  an 
industrial  code,  and,  even  w^ere  this 
possible,   the  broader  public   interest 


would  not  probably  receive  proper  con- 
sideration. The  conclusion  is  therefore 
irresistible  that  it  would  be  the  part  of 
genuine  democratic  and  industrial 
statesmanship  to  establish  at  once,  by 
legislative  action,  an  industrial  code 
and  the  machinery  for  its  interpreta- 
tion and  application.  Only  by  this 
method  can  industrial  conflict  be  mini- 
mized and  a  real  movement  towards 
the  attainment  of  a  sound  and  perma- 
nent political  and  industrial  democracy 
inaugurated. 


) 


\\ 


'I 


The  Trade  Agreement  Between  Employers 

and  Employees 

By  John  P.  Frey 

Editor,  International  Molders'  Journal 


ARE  agreements  covering  the  terms 
of  employment  and  conditions  of 
labor  which  are  entered  into  between 
employers  and  organized  workmen, 
advantageous  to  the  public,  to  the  em- 
ployer and  to  the  wage-earner?  An 
adequate  reply  to  these  questions 
would  be  advantageous  to  all,  because 
the  public  at  times  fears  that  trade 
agreements  of  the  character  under  con- 
sideration may  result  in  an  imposition 
of  unjust  prices.  Some  employers  be- 
lieve that  their  business  could  not  be 
successfully  conducted  if  such  agree- 
ments were  in  existence,  and  there  are 
wage-earners,  who,  having  listened  to 
the  arguments  of  some  schools  of  eco- 
nomic, social  and  industrial  theory, 
believe  that  such  agreements  are  dis- 
advantageous to  them,  because,  cover- 
ing definite  periods  of  time  as  they  do, 
they  prevent  the  workers  from  taking 
advantage  of  the  fluctuations  of  supply 
and  demand. 

While  joint  conferences  between  em- 
ployers and  organized  workmen,  and 
the  trade  agreements  which  result, 
have  been  studied  to  some  extent,  the 
understanding  and  view^joint  of  the 
large  number  towards  the  subject  sup- 
plies quite  convincing  evidence  that  the 
subject  is  not  thoroughly  understood. 
This  is  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  a  large 
number  have  been  unable  to  grasp  the 
simple  truth  that  these  conferences  and 
agreements  are  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  the  gradual  application  in  indus- 
try of  those  same  principles  and 
methods  of  democracy  which  we  all 
have  adopted  as  citizens  for  regulating 
our  civil  relationships. 


We  regulate  our  relations  interna- 
tionally through  treaties,  which  not 
only  determine  the  obligations  and  the 
rules  which  the  nations  accept  as  the 
basis  for  their  friendly  relationship,  but 
in  addition,  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
their  respective  citizens  when  coming 
into  contact  with  each  other.  It  is 
quite  proper  for  us  to  ask  whether  the 
application  and  the  operation  of  the 
principles  and  practices  of  democracy 
as  we  understand  them  in  America,  are 
more  advantageous  to  the  people  than 
some  more  autocratic  form  of  govern- 
ment. 

We  are  compelled  to  recognize  that 
our  democratic  institutions  have  so 
far  failed  to  establish  perfection;  that 
the  laws  enacted  are  not  always  wise  or 
advantageous  to  the  public.  The  ad- 
ministration of  the  law  is  sometimes 
unsatisfactory,  but  do  these  facts 
weaken  our  faith  in  democracy  or 
prompt  us  to  seek  some  more  auto- 
cratic form  of  legislation  and  adminis- 
tration? 

In  considering  the  question  of  trade 
agreements  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  conditions  which  made  trade 
agreements  a  possibility  scarcely  ex- 
isted in  America  until  after  the  Civil 
War.  Previously  our  industries  had 
been  carried  on  upon  a  small  scale. 
Production  was  in  the  hands  of  individ- 
uals instead  of  stock  companies  or 
corporations.  The  employer  was  per- 
sonally acquainted  with  all  of  his  em- 
ployees. The  majority  of  them  were 
residents  of  the  same  community  as  the 
employer.  Their  ancestors  lay  buried 
in  the  same  church  yards,  and  though 


Agreement  Between  Employers  and  Employees 


23 


f 


^ 


22 


industrial  injustice  existed  during  this 
period  as  it  has  since,  the  conditions 
which  favored  the  development  of 
trade  agreements  did  not  exist  as  they 
do  at  the  present  time. 

There  is  one  fact  connected  with  our 
industries  over  which  there  is  no  dif- 
ference of  opinion.  That  industrial 
problems  created  through  the  relation- 
ship existing  between  employer  and 
employee  cause  serious  conflicts  at 
times  is,  unfortunately,  a  fact.  The 
problem  is  not  confined  to  our  country 
or  to  the  western  hemisphere,  but 
exists  throughout  the  civilized  world. 
Since  the  War,  the  world  has  witnessed 
a  revolution  in  Russia  which  is  the  out- 
come of  the  effort  to  apply  new  theories 
to  the  relationship  of  men  to  each  other 
and  to  their  government;  an  effort  due 
as  much  to  the  industrial  as  to  any 
other  problem  which  had  arisen  in  that 
country.  Realizing  the  seriousness  of 
the  problem,  and  understanding  some 
of  its  most  prominent  implications, 
various  types  of  men  with  different  solu- 
tions, have  endeavored  to  supply  a 
method  by  which  the  problem  could  be 
solved.  We  have  witnessed  the  results 
of  the  method  which  was  applied  in 
Russia.  In  Australia  and  New  Zealand 
the  governments  established  compul- 
sory arbitration  through  parliamentary 
decree,  but,  instead  of  solving  the  prob- 
lem, it  was  only  rendered  more  difficult 
of  adjustment.  In  our  own  country, 
Kansas  has  made  striking  a  crime,  and, 
through  vagrancy  laws  has  made  labor 
compulsory,  and  yet  strikes  involving 
more  workmen  than  ever  before  have 
occurred  since  the  industrial  court  law 
was  enacted  by  that  state. 

Talking  It  Out 

When  men  were  struggling  to  secure 
their  liberties  in  Europe  they  tried 
two  methods,  "talking  it  out"  and 
"fighting  it  out."  x\s  free  speech  was 
restricted  and  as  there  was  no  free 


public  press,  most  of  the  major  prob- 
lems of  the  people  were  solved  by  the 
latter  method.  The  result  of  these  con- 
flicts was  never  as  satisfactory  as  though 
the  people  had  been  able  to  confer 
through  representatives  and  work  out 
the  solution  of  their  problems  through 
evolutionary  methods.  Taken  from 
one  angle  there  is  a  basic  similarity 
between  the  efforts  which  men  have 
made  to  establish  their  religious,  their 
political,  and  their  industrial  liberty. 
No  one  today  questions  the  individual's 
right  to  religious  or  political  liberty  and 
equality  of  rights,  but,  unfortunately, 
this  same  recognition  is  not  extended 
to  the  relationship  of  employer  and 
employee.  So  that  in  industry  the 
period  of  "fighting  it  out"  has  not  yet 
developed  to  that  stage  where  all  men 
recognize  not  only  the  advantage  but 
the  justice  of  talking  it  over,  and  "  talk- 
ing it  out." 

When  trade  agreements  were  first 
entered  into  it  was  because  many  had 
become  wearied  of  endeavoring  to 
"fight  it  out."  Some  had  recognized 
the  futility  of  that  method,  because 
wherever  an  industrial  problem  was 
decided  by  the  gage  of  battle,  the  vic- 
tors, with  the  smart  of  the  conflict  still 
stinging,  and  the  elation  of  victory  still 
influencing  them,  proved  unable  to  deal 
wisely  or  justly  with  the  vanquished. 
The  spirit  of  retaliation  invariably  man- 
ifested itself.  Strikes  proved  costly. 
Employers  suffered  heavy  financial 
losses,  and  instead  of  devoting  their 
energies  to  the  upbuilding  of  their  busi- 
ness they  were  compelled  to  apply  all 
of  their  energies  in  an  effort  to  defeat  the 
strikers.  Defeated  strikers  frequently 
lost  their  homes,  and  became  wanderers 
from  state  to  state.  The  loss  of  a  strike 
was  also  frequently  followed  by  the 
loss  of  a  local  union,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  severe  suffering  caused  to  the 
strikers'  wives  and  children.  The  win- 
ning of  a  strike  too  often  left  the  em- 


/ 


24 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


ployer  sullen  and  vindictive,  biding  his 
time  to  retaliate.  Where  the  employer 
combined  with  other  employers  so  that 
their  organized  strength  would  be 
greater  than  that  of  the  workers,  the 
only  result,  in  the  passage  of  time,  was 
more  costly  conflicts  and  larger  num- 
bers of  men  involved. 

The    governmental    and    legislative 
efforts  which  were  made  to  solve  the 
larger  problems  and  adjust  the  smaller 
ones  failed  in  their  purpose;  failed  as 
completely  as  the  spirit  and  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity  failed  to  prevent 
the  recent  frightful  war.     So  far,  the 
only  method  which  has  tended  greatly 
to   reduce   industrial   conflicts,    mini- 
mize strife,  create  a  better  understand- 
mg  and  indicate  the  methods  by  which 
problems  of  relationship  between  em- 
ployer and  employee  can  be  solved, 
has  been  the  method  of  joint  conference 
and  joint  agreement.  That  this  method 
if  generally  applied  would  solve  the 
industrial  problem  would  be  expecting 
too  much,  because  the  problem  is  a 
changing  one,  due  to  the  fact  that  our 
mdustries  are  undergoing  rapid  changes, 
and  will  undergo  such  changes  for  years 
to  come.     To  expect  that  such  agree- 
ments would  wholly  eliminate  strife  in 
the  industrial  world  is  to  anticipate  the 
humanly  impossible,  but  treaties  be- 
tween nations,  when  based  upon  mutual 
justice,  unquestionably  limit  wars  and 
the  preparation  for  wars. 

The  conferences  between  employers 
and    organized    employees,    and    the 
resultant   agreements   which   may   be 
compared  to  treaties,  provide  the  me- 
dium  through   which   many   of  their 
problems  are  adjusted,   and  what  is 
fully  as  important,  teach  those  who 
participate  in  them  that  it  is  possible 
to  work  out  a  solution  of  their  problems 
without  recourse  to  arbitrary  force.    If 
these  joint  conferences  accomplished 
nothing  more  than  the  meeting  and  the 
exchange  of  viewpoint,  they  would  be 


of  much  value,  because,  as  modern 
industry  is  conducted,  it  is  a  physical 
impossibility  for  the  employer,  the 
president,  the  general  manager,  the 
board  of  directors,  and  the  stockholders 
to  become  personally  acquainted  with 
the  employees;  to  know  what  is  passing 
through  their  minds,  or  to  understand 
their  problems. 

Equally  true  is  the  fact  that  the 
employees,  having  lost  personal  con- 
tact with  their  employer,  have  little  if 
any   understanding   of  his   problems. 
But  where  through  conferences  the  rep- 
resentatives of  employers  and  employ- 
ees gather  around  the  conference  table 
they  not  only  become  acquainted  with 
each  other,  and  discover  for  themselves 
that  human  nature,   whether  at  the 
work  bench  or  in  the  counting  room,  is 
very  much  the  same,  but  they  learn 
also    the    important    truth    that    the 
majority  of  men  desire  to  deal  justly 
with  their  fellowmen.    The  feelings  of 
doubt  and  even  suspicion  which  existed 
are  gradually  eliminated,  and  in  their 
place  a  degree  of  mutual  confidence 
develops. 

An  Example 


These  facts  are  well  illustrated  by 
the    relationship    which    has    existed 
between  the  Stove  Founders*  National 
Defence  Association  and  the  Interna- 
tional  Molders'   Union   for  the  past 
thirty-one  years.     In  time  passed  the 
stove   foundrymen   and   the   molders 
looked   upon   each   other   as   natural 
enemies  against  whom  it  was  necessary 
to  be  on  continual  guard.  For  years  the 
industry  was  in  a  turmoil  because  of 
continual  conflict.    When  trade  condi- 
tions favored  the  molders,  their  de- 
mands upon  the  foundrymen  were  often 
as   unreasonable  as  those  which  the 
foundrymen  made  upon  their  molders 
when  trade  was  dull,  molders  were  idle, 
and  landlords,   butchers  and  grocers 
were  clamoring  for  the  payment  of  their 


Agreement  Between  Employers  and  Employees 


25 


i 


i> 


A     A 


•;  '> 


bills.  As  a  result  of  these  conflicts 
some  foundrymen  lost  a  lifetime's  busi- 
ness, and  the  sherift"s  flag  was  hung 
from  the  door.  Local  unions  were 
swept  out  of  existence,  and  active  mem- 
bers of  the  union  blacklisted  so  effec- 
tively that  they  were  compelled  to  seek 
employment  outside  of  their  trade.  As 
the  years  passed  each  side  organized 
and  prepared  for  still  more  extended 
conflicts,  each  governed  by  the  convic- 
tion that  the  only  solution  to  their 
problem  was  to  *' fight  it  out."  At  last 
wiser  men  assumed  the  helm,  and  even- 
tually in  1891  an  agreement  was  entered 
into  between  the  two  associations. 
Many  foundrymen  and  many  molders 
were  unfriendly  to  the  idea,  because 
each  side  had  been  taught  and  trained 
to  view  the  other  as  an  opponent.  As 
time  passed,  it  was  found  that  through 
annual  conferences  and  their  resulting 
agreements,  mutually  advantageous 
changes  could  be  established.  Con- 
fidence replaced  the  suspicion  which 
had  previously  existed,  and  finally  it 
was  found  possible  to  agree  jointly,  not 
only  upon  the  wage  rate  and  the  hours 
of  labor,  but  upon  the  shop  rules  and 
regulations  as  well. 

During  the  thirty-one  years  in  which 
these  conferences  and  agreements  have 
existed  great  changes  have  taken  place 
in  the  industry.  The  machine  came  in 
which,  to  some  extent,  displaced  the 
highly  skilled  hand  labor  previously 
required.  Yet  every  major  as  well  as 
every  minor  problem  which  has  arisen 
in  the  industry  has  been  adjusted  with- 
out the  loss  of  time  or  the  animosity 
created  through  strikes  or  lockouts. 
What  is  true  of  this  industry  is  true 
of  many  others.  The  reason  for 
their  success  is  that  employer  and 
employee  applied  the  same  methods 
and  principles  in  the  regulation  of 
their  relationship  that  they  had  previ- 
ously applied  to  their  civil  relationship 
as  citizens. 


Self-Determination  in  Industry 

Governmental  assistance  may  be 
invaluable  at  times  in  helping  to  solve 
the  human  side  of  industrial  problems, 
but,  no  matter  how  well  intentioned  a 
government,  it  cannot  do  for  industry 
what  those  in  industry  can  do  for 
themselves.  For  many  years  molders 
endeavored  to  secure  legislation  estab- 
lishing proper  sanitary  and  safety  con- 
ditions in  foundries.  Their  experience 
w&^s  similar  to  that  of  other  workmen 
seeking  similar  legislation.  Some 
friendly  legislator  introduced  a  bill.  It 
was  referred  to  a  committee.  Commit- 
tee hearings  followed.  At  one  side  of 
the  committee  room  would  be  a  number 
of  prominent  foundrymen  flanked  by 
their  attorneys;  on  the  other,  represent- 
atives of  the  union.  The  committee 
composed  mostly  of  lawyers  and  farmers 
listened  more  or  less  disinterestedly  to 
what  was  being  said,  and  perhaps 
enjoyed  the  glances  and  occasional 
sarcasm  between  the  opposing  parties, 
but  no  practical  results  were  achieved. 
With  the  creation  of  industrial  com- 
missions in  some  of  the  states  there 
came  a  marked  change.  The  commis- 
sion would  ask  the  Foundrymen's 
Association  to  suggest  the  names  of  a 
number  of  their  most  competent  repre- 
sentatives. The  same  procedure  was 
followed  with  the  molders.  The  com- 
mission selected  a  small  committee 
from  each  side,  and  requested  them  to 
undertake  the  formulation  of  a  Foundry 
Code.  They  were  asked  to  legislate  for 
themselves,  the  reason  being  that  they 
knew  more  about  the  foundry  industry 
than  outsiders  could  know.  Public 
hearings  would  be  held  in  different 
foundry  centers  in  the  state,  and  as  the 
members  of  the  committee  became 
better  acquainted  with  each  other  they 
discovered  that  both  sides  were  desirous 
of  seeing  justice  done.  Eventually 
foundry  codes  were  agreed  upon  and 
endorsed,   after   careful   examination. 


^^^SSKIKtK 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


by  the  State  Industrial  Commission. 
These  codes  then  became  as  much  a 
part  of  the  law  of  the  state  as  the 
statutes  enacted  by  the  legislature. 
This  method  of  creating  a  foundry  code 
has  been  duplicated  in  a  number  of 
states,  not  only  for  the  foundry  indus- 
try, but  for  a  number  of  other  industries 
as  well,  thereby  proving  that  the  repre- 
sentatives of  employers  and  employees 
can  get  together  and  legislate  for  them- 
selves more  successfully,  wisely  and 
justly  than  can  a  state  legislature. 

This  fact  holds  equally  true  in  the 
adjustment  of  the  relationship  which 
exists  between  employer  and  employee. 
The  principle  mvolved  is  the  same  as 
that  upon  which  the  institutions  of  our 
country  have  been  founded.  The 
methods  are  very  similar;  in  fact,  in  the 
agreement  between  the  Stove  Founders' 
National  Defense  Association  and  the 
International  Molders'  Union  of  North 
America,  the  legislative,  administrative, 
and  judicial  features  have  become  well 
developed.  ' 

The  psychology-  is  equally  sound.  If 
the  employer  feels  that  his  position  is 
so  secure  that  he  can  compel  his  em- 


ployees to  accept  any  terms  which  are 
satisfactory  to  him,  or  if  he  believes 
that  he  can  secure  legislation  which 
will  enable  him  to  carry^  out  his  desires, 
he  will  not  be  so  open-minded  in  the 
recognition  of  the  right  of  his  employees 
to  a  voice  in  the  determination  of  terms 
of  employment  and  conditions  of  labor. 
If  the  wage-earners,  on  the  other  hand, 
believed  that  they  were  so  intrenched 
in  their  position  as  to  be  able  to  compel 
employers  to  grant  anything  they  de- 
sired, or  that  their  political  power  was 
such  that  they  could  secure  the  enact- 
ment of  any  legislative  measure  which 
they  favored,  it  would  be  a  difficult,  if 
not  an  impossible  thing,  for  private 
industry  to  endure. 

In  either  case  "fighting  it  out'* 
would  be  the  only  method  which  would 
be  left  to  one  side  or  the  other,  and 
"fighting  it  out"  would  not  solve  any 
of  the  problems.  Democracy  in  the 
industrial  relationship  of  employer  and 
employee  is  as  essential  as  democracy 
in  their  relationship  as  citizens.  The 
joint  conference  is  the  only  method  so 
far  evolved  which  permits  this  most 
necessary  form  of  democracy  to  operate. 


r\ 


^A 


> 


Collective  Agreements  in  the  Men's  Clothing  Industry 

By  W.  E.  HoTCHKiss 

Director,  National  Industrial  Federation  of  Clothing  Manufacturers 


REGARD  to  the  industrial  setting 
of  the  clothing  industry  and  its 
history  will  help  in  understanding 
what  has  happened  to  the  industry 
in  the  field  of  industrial  relations.  In 
the  year  1910,  one  of  the  outbursts 
that  had  been  more  or  less  common  in 
one  part  or  another  of  the  industry, 
developed  in  Chicago.  It  proved  to 
be  much  more  extensive  and  persistent 
than  previous  outbursts  had  been. 
Some  of  the  workers  were  represented 
by  the  United  Garment  Workers  and 
the  Chicago  Federation  of  Labor;  and 
the  Women's  Trade  Union  League 
took  an  active  part  in  the  controversy. 
At  the  close  of  the  struggle,  Hart 
Schaffner  &  Marx,  the  largest  house  in 
the  industry,  decided  to  recognize  the 
principle  of  representation  and  group 
action  among  their  workers,  and  ac- 
cordingly laid  out  their  policy  to  deal 
with  employees  collectively  through 
their  chosen  representatives.  The  evo- 
lution of  trade  agreements  in  that 
house  and  in  the  clothing  industry 
since  that  time  has  paralleled  the  de- 
velopment of  organization  among  the 
workers. 

In  connection  with  the  arrange- 
ment at  Hart  Schaffner  &  Marx,  Mr. 
Sidney  Hillman  came  to  the  front  as 
a  leader  of  the  workers.  Finding  the 
United  Garment  Workers  an  unsatis- 
factory instrument  for  their  activities, 
Mr.  Hillman  and  his  followers  through- 
out the  industry  revolted  from  the 
organization  in  1914  and  ultimately 
carried  a  large  percentage  of  men's 
clothing  workers  with  them.  This 
was  the  beginning  of  the  Amalgamated 
Clothing  Workers  of  America,  which 


has  since  expanded  and  come  to  have 
working  relations  with  the  bulk  of 
men's  clothing  manufacturers  in  the 
United  States  and  Canada. 

The  fact  that  relations  between 
employer  and  employee  develoj>ed  as 
they  did  at  Hart  Schaffner  &  Marx, 
and  that  these  developments  came  to 
have  such  a  large  significance  through- 
out the  clothing  industry,  is  doubtless 
due  in  large  measure  to  the  personality 
of  a  number  of  individuals  who  were 
closely  associated  with  the  arrange- 
ment entered  into.  The  personality 
of  Mr.  Joseph  Schaffner,  the  head  of 
the  firm,  the  personality  of  IVIr.  Hill- 
man, the  personality  of  Dr.  Earl  Dean 
Howard,  the  man  selected  to  represent 
the  house  and  to  cooperate  with  Mr. 
Hillman  in  reaching  adjustment,  and 
above  all  the  personality  of  Mr.  John 
E.  Williams,  first  chairman  of  the 
Board  of  Arbitration,  all  contributed 
largely  to  the  success  achieved.  The 
developments  at  Hart  Schaffner  & 
Marx  from  1910  to  1919  proceeded 
from  efforts  to  solve  problems  as  they 
arose.  Without  the  happy  combina- 
tion of  personalities,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  the  solutions  reached  would 
have  brought  the  experiment  to  a 
point  from  which  its  extension  to  other 
portions  of  the  industry  would  have 
been  entertained. 

During  the  period  ending  in  1919, 
the  balance  of  the  Chicago  clothing 
industry  was  strongly  antagonistic 
to  the  arrangement  operating  in  Hart 
Schaffner  &  Marx.  For  a  consider- 
able portion  of  that  time  there  were 
either  intermittent  strikes  in  a  large 
part  of  the  industry  or   "strikes   in 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


detail"  which  went  far  towards  paralyz- 
ing production  in  individual  houses. 
In  the  meantime,  the  organization  of 
the  workers  in  those  houses  had  pro- 
ceeded to  such  an  extent  that  the 
Amalgamated  Clothing  Workers  prac- 
tically controlled  the  labor  situation. 

« 

The  Chicago  manufacturers  in  1919 
had  come  to  feel  that  they  had  lost  a 
battle,  and  it  was  largely  in  that  spirit 
that  they  entered  into  an  agreement 
with  the  union. 

Henry  Sonneborn  &  Company  of 
Baltimore  was  the  first  large  house 
after  Hart  Schaffner  &  Marx  to  enter 
into  an  agreement  with  the  union. 
Strouse  &  Brothers,  now  out  of  busi- 
ness, later  followed  the  Sonneborn 
lead.  One  fair-sized  house  with  head- 
quarters in  Baltimore,  manufacturing 
part  of  its  product  in  Baltimore  and 
part  in  outlying  towns,  has  continued 
to  operate  non-union  shops.  Some 
of  the  smaller  houses  in  Baltimore  have 
fluctuated  between  Amalgamated  and 
non-Amalgamated  operation.  A 
number  of  houses  have  operated  with 
United  Garment  \Yorkers'  cutters; 
at  least,  one  plant  has  had  United 
Garment  Workers'  cutters  with  part 
of  its  shops  United  Garment  Workers 
and  part  Amalgamated.  Conditions 
in  those  Baltimore  houses  that  were 
dealing  with  the  Amalgamated  prior 
to  1919  were  quite  unhke  the  condi- 
tions at  Hart  Schaffner  &  Marx,  and 
there  was  little  similarity  between  the 
operation  of  agreements  in  the  two 
centers. 

In  Rochester  the  situation  was  de- 
veloped quite  differently  from  that  in 
Chicago.  There  was  danger  of  a  con- 
flict in  1919,  but  agreement  was  vol- 
untarily entered  into  at  that  time,  not 
only  in  the  hope  of  avoiding  conflict, 
but  with  the  promise  that  stability 
and  good  will  might  be  secured,  and 
still  leave  with  the  employers  a  large 
measure  of  the  freedom  they  previously 


enjoyed.     Mr.  Samuel  Weill,  president 
of    The    Stein-Bloch    Company,    was 
largely  instrumental   in    guiding   the 
policy  of  the  market  in  this  direction. 
One    fair-sized    house    in    Rochester 
stood  aloof  from  this  movement  and 
entered  into  a  vigorous  conflict  with 
the  Amalgamated.     Some  of  the  legal 
phases  of  this  conflict  are  still  pending. 
With  the  exception  of  a  few  shops 
operating    in    the    outlying    districts, 
substantially  all  of  the  product  of  the 
New  York  market  was  being  made  by 
Amalgamated  workers  in  1919.     One 
of  the  recurrent  conflicts  that  charac- 
terizes that  market  had  just  come  to  a 
close  at  the  time  the  Rochester  and 
Chicago   markets  w^ere  entering  into 
agreement    with    the    Amalgamated. 
An  effort  was  made  to  bring  all  the 
different  types  of  manufacturers  into 
a    single    organization    authorized    to 
speak    for    the    market.     A    general 
wage  adjustment  was  put  in  force  and 
provision  was  made  for  the  creation  of 
impartial  machinery  roughly  along  the 
Hart  Schaffner   &  Marx  lines.     The 
conditions  in  the  market,  however,  as 
above  described,  were  not  conducive 
to  law  and  order  during  the  period  of 
expansion  any  more  than  they  have 
proved  to  be  during  the  subsequent 
period    of    depression.     Neither    the 
manufacturers'    association    nor    the 
union  was  strong  enough  to  prevent 
direct  action  on  the  part  of  individuals 
and  groups. 

By  the  time  the  post-war  expansion 
of  business  had  reached  its  crest  in 
1919,  agreements  or  other  working 
arrangements  with  the  Amalgamated 
Clothing  Workers  of  America  were 
operating  throughout  the  industry, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  houses  in 
Rochester,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia, 
Cleveland,  Cincinnati,  and  perhaps 
one  or  two  other  places,  whose  aggre- 
gate product  represented  but  a  small 
percentage  of  the  total  output  of  men's 


Agreements  in  the  Men's  Clothing  Industry 


29 


I    ^ 


clothing.  Some  of  these  non-Amal- 
gamated houses  were  in  agreement 
with  the  remnants  of  the  United  Gar- 
ment Workers;  some  were  using  United 
Garment  cutters  and  operating  scat- 
tered non-union  shops;  some  were 
non-union  throughout.  Beginning 
with  1919,  however,  union  conditions 
in  the  clothing  industry  meant  sub- 
stantially conditions  resulting  from 
agreements  or  understandings  with 
the  Amalgamated  Clothing  Workers 
of  America.  While  the  United  Gar- 
ment Workers  are  still  represented  in 
the  industry,  they  have  little  influence 
in  determining  conditions. 

Nothing  of  particular  significance 
in  connection  with  the  study  of  law 
and  order  in  the  clothing  industry 
has  occurred  in  the  smaller  markets. 
The  occurrences  in  the  New  York 
market  during  the  years  1919-20,  end- 
ing with  open  conflict  lasting  for 
several  months  after  December,  1920, 
went  to  prove  that  the  New  York  mar- 
ket is  a  law  unto  itself  and  cannot, 
as  the  industry  there  is  at  present 
constituted,  be  expected  to  work  out 
its  industrial  relations  problem  on 
lines  parallel  to  those  followed  in  mar- 
kets in  which  large  and  responsible 
business  units  predominate.  The 
study  of  clothing  agreements,  there- 
fore, refers  substantially  to  agree- 
ments in  Chicago,  Rochester  and 
Baltimore. 

Agreements  more  or  less  similar  in 
form  have  now  been  in  force  in  the 
most  important  houses  of  these  mar- 
kets for  a  minimum  period  of  three 
years.  In  large  measure  the  more 
recent  of  these  agreements  were  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  the  result  of  power 
that  came  to  the  workers  during  the 
war  and  post-war  expansion  in  busi- 
ness. The  industry  has  now  carried 
the  agreements  to  the  end  of  the  period 
of  expansion  and  through  an  acute 
slump  followed  by  prolonged  depres- 


sion. In  the  midst  of  this  depression 
the  agreements  have  just  been  re- 
newed in  the  three  most  stable  markets 
for  a  further  period  of  three  years, 
terminable,  however,  except  in  three 
houses,  after  one  year  in  case  of  dis- 
agreement on  wages.  There  is  at  this 
moment  no  likelihood  that  conditions 
will  arise  which  will  result  in  termi- 
nating the  agreements  before  their 
expiration  in  1925. 

The  renewal  of  trade  agreements 
after  a  period  in  which  they  have  been 
more  or  less  constantly  subjected  to 
great  strain  through  fluctuations  in 
business,  does  not  mean  that  the  more 
stable  portion  of  the  men's  clothing 
industry  finds  these  agreements  com- 
pletely satisfactory.  They  do,  how- 
ever, constitute  a  more  promising 
policy  than  anything  else  in  sight. 
The  fact  that  they  have  proceeded 
from  such  a  variety  of  circumstances 
and  that  a  tolerable  measure  of  peace 
has  been  maintained  under  varied 
conditions,  indicates  that  principles 
are  involved  which  go  deeper  than  the 
mere  chance  handling  of  particular 
situations. 

Industrial  Government 

All  agreements  in  the  men's  clothing 
industry  conform  to  what  is  commonly 
designated  as  collective  bargaining, 
but  they  go  further  than  mere  bar- 
gaining. The  workers  have  estab- 
lished for  themselves  the  organization 
they  wish  to  have  represent  them,  and 
the  employers  on  their  part  accept 
that  organization  and  deal  with  it. 
The  Amalgamated  Clothing  Workers 
is  an  industrial  as  distinguished  from 
a  craft  union.  From  the  standpoint 
of  most  of  the  employers  this  form  of 
organization  is  preferable  to  the  craft 
form.  Indeed,  the  greatest  difficul- 
ties under  our  agreements  have  arisen 
out  of  the  fact  that  some  of  the  groups 
within  the  union  have  been  dominated 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


by  the  ideas  of  craft  organization  and 
have  tried  to  operate  along  craft  lines, 
sometimes  in  defiance  of  the  general 
body  of  the  union.  The  ability  to 
deal  with  the  whole  body  of  the  work- 
ers through  one  organization,  notwith- 
standing the  centralized  power  which 
such  an  organization  implies,  has,  from 
the  standpoint  of  management,  de- 
cided advantages  over  a  less  central- 
ized organization. 

Collective  bargaining  may  mean 
much  or  Httle  according  to  the  prac- 
tice in  the  plant  or  industry  in  which  it 
occurs.  In  the  clothing  industry  the 
bargaining  which  results  in  a  trade 
agreement  is  not  alone  significant  be- 
cause it  fixes  wages  and  working  con- 
ditions for  a  period  of  time;  its  chief 
significance  lies  in  determining  the 
principles  and  the  procedure  under 
which  problems  that  arise  from  day  to 
day  shall  be  adjusted. 

Possibly  the  term  collective  repre- 
sentation would  be  more  accurate 
than  collective  bargaining,  in  describ- 
ing the  situation  in  this  industry.  At 
any  rate,  representation  is  one  of  the 
first  considerations  in  making  the 
agreement  work.  The  union  is  rep- 
resented in  the  first  instance  by  the 
shop  chairman  and  secondly,  by  the 
union  deputy.  The  shop  chairman, 
as  the  term  impUes,  is  a  worker  elected 
to  represent  the  workers  and  the  union 
in  the  shop.  The  deputy  is  a  union 
official  not  employed  in  the  shop,  who 
is  called  in  when  the  shop  chairman  and 
the  management  cannot  adjust  their 
differences.  The  deputy  has  appro- 
priate access  to  subject  matter  involved 
in  a  dispute  and  may  enter  the  shop 
accompanied  by  a  representative  of 
management.  The  agreement  puts 
on  him  the  obligation  to  transact  his 
business  in  the  shop  at  appropriate 
times  and  in  such  a  way  as  not  to 
undermine  discipline. 

Employers  likewise  act  habitually 


through     designated    representatives. 
In  respect  to  minor  adjustments  the 
foreman  or  superintendent  functions. 
Questions    which,    because    of    their 
scope  or  failure  of  adjustment  in  the 
shop,    go    beyond    the    foreman,    are 
handled  for  the  most  part  by  a  labor 
manager.     The   smaller   houses   com- 
bine in  employing  a  joint  labor  man- 
ager.    Employers  are  themselves  or- 
ganized into  some  form  of  association 
or  federation  with  a  committee  to  speak 
for  all  the  employers  of  the  market  in 
matters  of  concern  to  more  than  an 
individual  house.     In  some  cases  the 
association  of  manufacturers  functions 
from  day  to  day  through  a  paid  execu- 
tive called  a  director  or  market  labor 
manager.     Finally,  the  three  markets, 
Chicago,    Rochester    and    Baltimore, 
are  represented  by  the  National  In- 
dustrial Federation  of  Clothing  Manu- 
facturers, which  functions  through  an 
executive   director.     In   other   words, 
our    arrangement    involves    collective 
action  on  both  sides  through  author- 
ized  representatives.     Also,   the   rep- 
resentatives of  the  parties   mutually 
recognize  each  other  as  authorized  to 
deal  collectively  for  their  respective 
principals. 

Along  with  collective  action  and 
representation,  we  have  embodied  in 
all  of  our  agreements  the  principle  of 
continuous  arbitration.  By  continu- 
ous arbitration  is  meant  acceptance 
of  the  fact  that  questions  are  going  to 
arise  upon  which  we  cannot  agree. 
We  agree,  however,  once  for  all,  to 
accept  during  the  period  of  the  agree- 
ment the  decision  of  an  impartial 
arbitrator  upon  concrete  questions 
arising  under  the  agreement  upon 
which,  as  interested  parties,  we  are 
unable  to  agree.  Failure  to  agree 
under  this  arrangement,  instead  of 
creating  a  crisis,  merely  creates  a  case 
before  the  Trade  Board,  and  Trade 
Board  cases  are  all  in  a  day's  work  for 


Agreements  in  the  Men's  Clothing  Industry 


31 


r  i 


both  sides.  With  the  recognition  of 
collective  action,  representation  and 
arbitration,  there  is  no  occasion  for 
interruption  of  business.  Agreements, 
therefore,  contain  emphatic  prohibi- 
tion of  stoppages  in  production,  and 
provide  for  the  discipline  of  partici- 
pants and  instigators. 

The  arrangement  here  briefly 
sketched  has  frequently  been  referred 
to  as  industrial  government.  This 
term  is  sufficiently  descriptive,  pro- 
vided its  implications  are  not  over- 
drawn. Both  sides  are  trying  to 
maintain  law  and  order  in  the  cloth- 
ing industry,  and  have  estabhshed 
certain  institutions  for  accomplishing 
this  result.  They  are  also  building 
up  certain  precedents  and  practices 
which  probably  tend  on  the  whole  to 
simplify  the  solution  of  future  prob- 
lems. 

Industrial  Law 

There  has  been  much  public  dis- 
cussion of  clothing  agreements  pro- 
ceeding from  the  assumption  that  we 
are  developing  a  system  of  industrial 
law.  I  have  myseK  several  times  pub- 
licly expressed  this  thought.  Further 
experience,  however,  and  more  mature 
reflection,  have  made  me  very  doubt- 
ful whether  the  results  of  our  practice 
during  the  past  three  years  should  be 
considered  as  the  beginnings  of  a 
body  of  constitutional  law  for  the 
clothing  industry.  It  is  significant 
that  in  the  recent  negotiations  for 
renewal  of  agreements,  both  sides 
were  in  complete  accord  in  trying  to 
discourage  the  solution  of  problems  on 
the  basis  of  precedent.  There  was  a 
strong  feeling  that  we  were  in  danger 
of  getting  too  much  instead  of  too 
little  law,  and  showing  a  tendency  to 
become  legalistic  and  technical. 
Wherever  possible,  the  agreement  is 
expressed  in  terms  calculated  to  dis- 
courage this  tendency,  and  the  prin- 


cipal representatives  of  the  two  sides 
are  undertaking  to  emphasize  among 
their  associates  the  necessity  of  solv- 
ing problems  as  they  arise  instead  of 
conducting  litigation  dominated  by 
past  precedents  or  the  fear  of  creating 
new  ones. 

Running  an  industry  is  an  intensely 
human  problem.  The  approach  to 
difficulties  must  be  both  human  and 
pragmatic,  and  unless  this  viewpoint 
is  kept  to  the  front  there  is  grave 
danger  of  building  up  a  body  of  law 
that  may  pK)ssess  all  virtue  on  paper, 
but  will  lack  the  virtue  of  actually 
solving  problems.  In  our  effort  to 
give  the  new  agreement  a  setting  that 
will  help  to  forestall  this  danger,  we 
have  tried  to  formulate  it  in  a  way  to 
put  larger  responsibilities  on  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  parties,  and  have 
gone  so  far  as  to  embody  a  clause  in 
the  agreement  mildly  restricting  the 
scope  of  arbitration.  Moreover,  both 
sides  are  pledged  to  a  sincere  effort  to 
meet  the  views  of  the  other  and  to  rely 
less  on  the  arbitrators  than  has  been 
done  in  the  past,  as  well  as  to  get  away 
from  a  too  insistent  invoking  of  prece- 
dents as  determining  factors  in  settling 
concrete  disputes. 

To  understand  the  significance  of 
what  is  being  attempted  in  the  cloth- 
ing industry,  the  activities  must  be 
studied  in  their  own  setting.  Little 
value  can  attach  to  a  comparison  of 
developments  in  clothing,  farm  imple- 
ments, mercantile  establishments  and 
electrical  or  other  industries,  with  the 
thought  of  rating  into  grades  of  excel- 
lence the  various  efforts  to  deal  con- 
structively with  industrial  relations. 
There  are,  of  course,  certain  prereq- 
uisites of  human  contact  common  to 
all  well  thought  out  plans  for  bringing 
the  factors  of  production  into  closer 
and  more  effective  working  relation- 
ships. 


m/mfm 


32 


The  Annals  of  the  Aaierican  Academy 


Manufacturers'  Organization 

Clothing  agreements,  and  the  suc- 
cesses and  faults  of  their  operation, 
are  mostly  the  outcome  of  clothing 
experience.  Some  industries  and 
plants  are  trying  to  deal  with  indus- 
trial relations  along  constructive  lines 
before  there  is  an  organization  of 
workers  strong  enough  to  enforce 
official  relations  with  the  union. 
Such  voluntary  efforts,  when  they 
proceed  from  a  sincere  purpose  to 
apply  statesmanship  to  the  relation 
of  employer  and  employee,  represent 
management  at  its  best  and  should 
be  commended.  The  clothing  manu- 
facturer did  not  see  the  handwriting 
on  his  neighbor's  wall  but  on  his  own. 
It  was  not  a  union  operating  in  some 
adjacent  industry  that  brought  indus- 
trial relations  in  the  clothing  industry 
within  the  scope  of  a  business  problem 
that  had  to  be  met. 

The  more  advanced  manufacturers 
congratulated  themselves  that  in  mov- 
ing from  the  contract  shop  to  their 
model  factories  they  were  rescuing 
the  industry  from  reproach  and  put- 
ting it  in  a  way  of  wholesome  develop- 
ment. Beyond  that  there  appeared 
to  be  no  particular  occasion  to  reflect. 
Employers  less  well  circumstanced 
probably  did  not  reflect  at  all.  The 
day  to  day  situations  they  confronted 
absorbed  whatever  energy  and  mental 
equipment  they  had  to  give. 

This  was  the  medium  in  which,  in 
1910,  representatives  of  organized 
workers  injected  themselves  and  de- 
manded what  such  representatives 
usually  demand.  The  largest  house 
in  the  industry,  searching  for  a  right 
and  wise  approach,  decided  to  commit 
itself  unreservedly  to  cooperation. 
Other  large  houses,  impressed  with 
the  dangers  of  possible  union  domina- 
tion, decided  with  equal  earnestness 
and    with    good    conscience    upon    a 


policy  of  resistance.  After  ten  years 
the  policy  of  resistance  gave  way,  and 
for  three  years  cooperation  is  being 
tried  in  the  industry  as  it  was  pre- 
viously tried  on  a  house  basis.  Prob- 
ably most  of  the  thoughtful  employ- 
ers who  thus  changed  their  policy  still 
regret  the  occasion  for  the  change, 
but  they  are  not  wasting  their  time 
bewailing  the  fact  that  limitations 
are  being  placed  on  the  authority 
they  formerly  exercised. 

In  1919,  the  employers  promptly 
organized  in  a  way  calculated  to  pro- 
mote wise  counsel.  Recognizing  that 
the  extension  of  one  union  over  the 
whole  industry  gave  a  nation-wide 
aspect  to  many  of  the  problems,  the 
National  Industrial  Federation  of 
Clothing  Manufacturers  was  founded. 
It  was  the  intention  that  the  Federa- 
tion should  have  its  headquarters  in 
Chicago  and  operate  for  the  Chicago, 
Xew  York,  Rochester,  Baltimore  and 
Boston  markets,  and  it  was  thought 
that  other  markets  might  secure  its 
services  through  afliliation  with  one 
of  the  principal  markets.  The  Boston 
market,  however,  never  qualified  for 
membership,  and  since  the  articles 
under  which  the  Federation  was  con- 
stituted limit  its  functions  to  operating 
agreements  with  the  Amalgamated, 
the  New  York  market  automatically 
dropped  out  in  December,  1920,  when 
it  broke  with  the  union. 

Possibly  not  less  significant  than 
the  actual  operation  of  agreements  in 
respect  to  concrete  local  situations  is 
the  fact  that  different  houses  in  the 
several  markets  representing  a  great 
variety  of  conditions  and  viewpoints, 
and  the  markets  themselves,  have 
been  able  to  organize  effectively  for  a 
peaceful  purpose  and  to  maintain 
that  purpose  through  fluctuations  in 
economic  conditions  well  calculated 
to  stir  up  the  latent  militancy  inherent 
in  all  complex  industrial  situations. 


Agreements  in  the  Men's  Clothing  Industry 


33 


Doubtless  some  of  our  experience, 
both  in  maintaining  our  employers' 
organizations  and  in  trying,  at  the 
same  time,  to  deal  vigorously  and  con- 
structively with  the  organization  of 
workers,  has  value  for  other  industries. 
The  chief  lesson,  however,  to  be  learned 
from  the  operation  of  clothing  agree- 


ments during  the  last  three  years  is 
the  lesson  of  dealing  with  a  situation 
as  it  exists  rather  than  bemoaning 
the  fact  that  it  is  not  a  different  situa- 
tion, or  attempting  to  deal  with  it  in 
accordance  with  preconceived  notions 
as  to  what  such  situations  in  general 
ought  to  be. 


r> 


A 


n> 


Employee  Representation 

By  Walter  Gordon  Merritt 

Counsel,  League  for  Industrial  Rights 


MOST  conflicts  between  nations  or 
between  classes  arise  from  bar- 
riers to  understanding.  These  barriers 
removed,  ideas,  like  water,  seek  their 
level.  In  the  field  of  industry  these 
barriers  must  be  razed  by  machinery 
for  systematic  contact  and  common 
counsel,  if  conflict  is  to  be  avoided. 

Millions  of  our  industrial  workers  are 
daily  brought  beneath  the  same  roofs 
with  the  owners  or  managers  of  busi- 
ness, but  barriers  of  ignorance  and 
language  and  the  lack  of  proper  ma- 
chinery for  contact  and  intercommuni- 
cation, foster  a  mutual  state  of  fear  and 
distrust,  with  unsound  conceptions  of 
each  other's  problems.  The  average 
employer  is  no  philosopher  or  recon- 
structionist  and  knows  little  of  the 
psychology  of  the  working  classes. 
The  average  worker  knows  little  of  the 
problems  and  embarrassments  of  busi- 
ness. Unless  this  gulf  is  bridged  and 
the  traffic  of  ideas  resumed,  our  exist- 
ing industrial  institutions  and  our  con- 
stitutional rights  of  liberty  and  prop- 
erty can  scarcely  survive.  Conference 
in  industrial  relations  is  part  of  the 
price  of  peace  and  cooperation. 

The  latest  promise  of  substantial 
progress  in  this  direction  springs  from 
the  new  intra-factory  organizations  of 
employees  operating  under  a  definite 
form  of  industrial  government.  As  a 
means  of  adjusting  differences  and 
promoting  cooperation,  common  pur- 
pose and  a  broader  outlook,  as  a  con- 
duit for  the  interchange  of  ideas  and 
viewpoints,  this  modern  type  of  works 
council,  usually  operating  independ- 
ently of  the  unions,  has  in  a  few  years 
made  a  record  of  achievement  which  is 
unsurpassed.     For  the  light  and  en- 

34 


couragement  it  has  brought  us  we  are 
indebted  to  those  employers  who  had 
the  vision  and  courage  to  embark  while 
others  faltered. 

Nearly  all  plans  for  works  councils 
provide  a  definite  constitution  under 
which  the  employees  of  a  single  factory 
by  secret  ballot  elect  representatives  to 
act  for  them  in  conference  with  the 
management.     Of  first  importance  is 
the  fact  that  elections  are  held  in  the 
factory  on  company's  time  so  that  all 
employees  will  participate.     The  sim- 
plest and  most  successful  arrangement 
is  where  the  employee  representatives 
serve  on  a  joint  committee  with  an 
equal  number  of  representatives  of  the 
management.     If  the  concern  is  a  large 
one,  joint  committees  are  elected  in 
each  department  or  division,  to  dispose 
of  localized  questions  with  a  general 
committee    similarly    constituted,    to 
consider  matters  of  general  interest, 
and  to  hear  appeals  from  the  depart- 
mental or  divisional  committees.     A 
decision   cannot    be   reached   without 
agreement.     In   some  cases  the  plan 
provides  for  arbitration  in  the  event  of 
ultimate  disagreement  and  in  some  it 
does  not.     In  either  event,  success  lies 
in  substituting  conference  for  dictation. 
Disagreement  and  arbitration  seldom 
figure. 

Another  plan  which  captures  the 
imagination  by  the  term  "Industrial 
Democracy"  and  by  imitation  of  our 
republican  form  of  government,  es- 
tablishes a  House  of  Representatives 
elected  by  the  rank  and  file,  a  Senate  of 
foremen  and  a  Cabinet  of  the  chief 
executives.  Concurrence  bv  the  three 
bodies  is  necessary  for  action.  The 
chief  defect  of  this  plan  is  encourage- 


Employee  Representation 


35 


f     ^ 


J/^ 


<i\.-> 


ment  of  separate  meetings  by  divergent 
interests  instead  of  bringing  all  parties 
to  the  same  table.  The  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives is  likely  to  commit  itself 
without  hearing  the  other  side.  The 
Cabinet  may  be  forced  to  use  its  veto 
with  unpleasant  results. 

Effect  of  the  World  War  on  Works 
Councils 

The  W^orld  W' ar  led  us  to  expect  pro- 
found changes  in  our  industrial  institu- 
tions. People  predicted  a  new  status 
for  labor.  Japanese  observers  went  so 
far  as  to  predict  the  end  of  the  occi- 
dental type  of  civilization.  Labor 
unions  strengthened  and  entered  into 
the  councils  of  the  nation  as  never 
before.  "We  stand  today,"  said  one 
report,  "  at  one  of  those  definite  turning 
points  in  human  history  where  a  genera- 
tion of  men  has  it  in  its  power,  by  the 
exercise  of  faith  and  wisdom,  by  facing 
the  problems  of  the  moment  without 
passion  and  without  shrinking,  to  de- 
termine the  course  of  the  future  for 
many  years." 

A  thrill  of  new  interest  sprang  from 
this  expectancy  of  great  change.  Many 
people  began  to  view  this  decade  in  the 
words  of  Emerson: 

If  there  is  any  period  one  would  desire 
to  be  born  in,  is  it  not  the  age  of  revolution; 
where  the  old  and  the  new  stand  side  by  side 
and  admit  of  being  compared;  when  the 
energies  of  all  men  are  searched  by  fear  and 
hope;  when  the  historic  glories  of  the  past 
can  be  compensated  by  the  rich  possibilities 
of  the  new  era.  This  time,  like  all  times,  is 
a  very  good  one,  if  we  but  know  what  to  do 
with  it. 

Then  followed  the  reaction,  so  obvi- 
ous to  any  observer,  and  a  current  of 
feeling  that  the  visions  of  greater 
equality  and  democracy  in  industry 
were  not  to  be  realized  promptly. 
When  business  activity  subsided  the 
employer  had  less  to  fear  from  labor 
and  forgot  the  prod  which  drove  so 


many  to  try  new  and  interesting  ex- 
periments in  labor  management.  Some 
who,  a  few  years  ago,  expected  an  over- 
throw of  existing  institutions,  com- 
placently feel  the  present  reaction  is 
convincing  proof  that  existing  institu- 
tions are  immutable.  The  very  public 
which  had  condoned  the  evils  of  union- 
ism became  the  union's  censor.  Courts 
and  legislatures  reacted  to  the  change 
in  popular  sentiment.  Membership  in 
labor  unions  greatly  decreased.  The 
country  witnessed  an  open  shop  cru- 
sade, in  most  respects  spontaneous  and 
uncoordinated,  which  was  truly  phe- 
nomenal. 

How  did  this  affect  the  works  coun- 
cils movement  in  the  United  States? 
Has  it  gone  forward  or  backward,  or 
stood  still?  Has  it  survived  the  un- 
settled conditions  and  violent  fluctua- 
tions concentrated  into  these  few  years 
— years  during  which  the  pendulum 
swung  from  extreme  progressivism 
back  to  the  side  of  reaction?  These 
are  questions  to  which  answers  have 
been  sought  by  ascertaining  approxi- 
mately how  many  concerns  have  ex- 
perimented with  works  councils,  and 
their  present  attitude. 

The  answers  come  back  in  unequiv- 
ocal terms.  Conference  in  industrial 
relations  has  come  to  stay.  It  found 
its  real  inspiration  in  war-exaltation 
and  is  surviving  post-war  reaction. 
Declining  business  has  retarded  its 
rapid  spread  into  new  plants  but  has 
had  little  effect  on  its  intrenchment 
where  already  adopted.  There  have 
been  fewer  converts  since  1920,  but  the 
faith  of  the  converted  is  ever  strength- 
ening. The  cumulative  experience  of 
concerns  which  voluntarily  installed  the 
Joint  Committee  Plan,  bears  almost 
uniform  testimony  to  its  advantages,^ 
while  the  experience  of  those  employers 
who  were  compelled  so  to  do  by  govern- 

1  A  few  plans  of  the  Industrial  Democracy 
type  failed. 


86 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


ment  agencies,  is  of  the  opposite  char- 
acter. If  the  employer  is  converted 
and  proceeds  with  moderate  social 
sense,  the  workers  will  follow  his  leader- 
ship in  this  direction  with  beneficial 
results  to  all,  unless,  perchance,  there  is 
outside  opposition  from  trade  unions. 

Growth  of  Employee  Representa- 
tion IN  the  United  States 

Generally  speaking,  the  employee 
representation  movement  in  this  coun- 
try— and  probably  throughout  the  en- 
tire civilized  world — has  dev-eloped 
during  the  last  four  years.  The  report 
of  the  Federal  Industrial  Commission 
in  1916  referred  to  the  plan  instituted 
by  the  Colorado  Fuel  &  Iron  Company 
in  1915  as  a  "new  departure  in  the 
United  States.'*  As  this  example 
found  few,  if  any,  imitators  in  the  fol- 
lowing three  years,  the  growth  of  the 
movement  started  almost  from  nothing 
about  the  close  of  1917. 

During  1918  over  one  hundred  such 
plans  ^  were  inaugurated  under  gov- 
ernment pressure  by  the  National  War 
Labor  Board  and  the  Ship  Build- 
ing Labor  Adjustment  Board,  but  most 
of  these  were  abandoned  because  in- 
stalled under  pressure  before  the 
management  acquired  faith  and  under- 
standing. Outside  of  these  govern- 
mental ventures,  about  seven  hundred 
of  such  plans,  now  still  in  existence, 
were  established  voluntarily  in  the 
three  years  following  the  close  of  1917. 
Since  1920  only  about  twenty  or 
twenty-five  new  plans  have  been  in- 
stalled. 

These  seven  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  plans,  more  or  less,  which  are  now 
in  operation,  represent  about  four 
hundred  different  concerns,  because 
some  companies  operating  scattered 
plants  are  listed  as  maintaining  several 
plans.     Included  in  the  seven  hundred 

2  Exclusive  of  Loyal  Legion  of  Loggers  and 
Lumbermen. 


and  twenty-five  are  about  one  hundred 
and  sixty  lumber  companies  in  the 
Northwest  operating  under  the  Loyal 
Legion  of  Loggers  and  Lumbermen, 
and  about  thirty-five  bituminous  coal 
companies  until  recently  operating 
under  the  ^laryland  Agreement.  The 
total  number  of  employees  working 
under  these  plans  in  normal  times  is 
estimated  to  be  between  750,000  and 
1,000,000,  or,  approximately,  one-tenth 
of  the  industrial  employees  in  the 
United  States.  Those  employed  in 
the  factories  alone  approach  in  number 
the  union  men  in  good  standing  in  the 
same  industries,  although  union  mem- 
bership represents  the  organizing  effort 
of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

The  further  extension  of  this  plan 
and  its  benefits  of  common  counsel 
depend  largely  on  the  action  of  a 
comparatively  small  group  of  large 
employers.  One  per  cent,  or  about 
2,900  concerns,  employ  over  one-half 
of  the  industrial  employees  of  the 
United  States,  or  more  than  4,500,000. 
Six-tenths  of  one  per  cent,  or  less  than 
1,750  estabhshments,  employ  over  v 
3,600,000,  or  nearly  forty  per  cent  of 
the  industrial  employees.  The  con- 
version of  this  compact  group  would 
mean  much  for  the  moral  and  social 
outlook  of  a  vast  number  of  industrial 
toilers. 

The  advancement  of  this  movement 
is  not  solely  to  be  measured  by  the 
limits  of  immediate  operations,  but  by 
the  extent  of  the  interest,  discussion 
and  association  approval  which  is 
developing.  When  these  forces  back 
the  movement  its  further  extension 
in  normal  times  is  inevitable.  The 
League  for  Industrial  Rights  was  the 
first  national  employers'  association  to 
publish  a  pamphlet,  in  1918,  positively 
favoring  such  a  plan.  Other  important 
employers'  associations,  one  after  an- 
other, have  made  special  studies  in  this 
direction  and  have  since  given  their  en- 


t'-i 


Employee  Representation 


37 


■ 
I 


dorsement.  Some  have  published  lit- 
erature containing  suggestions  and 
model  forms  of  constitutions  and  by- 
laws. The  National  Industrial  Con- 
ference Board  has  published  two 
studies  on  the  subject.  Conventions  of 
employers  have  discussed  the  idea  dur- 
ing extended  sessions.  The  Canadian 
Minister  of  Labor  called  a  convention 
of  leading  employers  in  Canada  and 
published  a  brochure  of  their  discus- 
sions, which  were  largely  confined  to 
this  subject.  The  President's  Second 
Industrial  Conference  in  its  final  report 
of  March  6,  1920,  declared  for  estab- 
lished channels  of  ex'pression  in  each 
factory  and  emphatically  endorsed  the 
movement.  It  affirmed  that  such  an 
arrangement  "is  itself  an  agency  of 
collective  bargaining  and  cooperation 
where  union  agreements  do  not  obtain." 
Thus  in  the  course  of  four  years  a 
revolutionary  idea,  which  leads  we 
know  not  where,  has  crept  into  in- 
dustry, as  the  most  outstanding  symp- 
tom of  changed  industrial  relations.  It 
exhibits  an  amazing  growth,  is  the 
leading  feature  of  industrial  discussion, 
and  has  been  sanctioned  by  a  govern- 
mental commission. 

International  Aspect  of  Employee 
Representation 

Employee  representation  is  not  lim- 
i  ted  to  the  United  States.  The  growth 
of  the  movement  is  international. 
Plans  providing  for  cooperation  of 
workers  in  some  phases  of  industrial 
management  have  been  instituted,  or 
are  being  seriously  considered  in  practi- 
cally all  industrial  countries  of  the 
civilized  world. 

In  Germany,  pressure  from  all  parts 
of  the  country  for  definite  legal  es- 
tablishment of  the  council  system  be- 
came so  great  that  provision  for  the 
creation  of  works  councils  was  made 
in  the  new  Constitution  of  the  German 
Republic,  August  11,  1919.     As  a  re- 


sult, the  Act  passed  by  the  National 
Assembly,  January  18,  1920,  required 
that  works  councils  be  set  up  in  all 
industrial  undertakings  employing 
twenty  or  more  workers.  According 
to  a  report  of  the  German  Factory  In- 
spection Service,  these  councils  are 
working  satisfactorily  in  all  factories 
where  both  sides  show  good  will  and  an 
honest  desire  for  successful  cooperation. 
The  German  Government  recently  in- 
troduced a  bill  providing  for  representa- 
tion of  works  councils  on  the  Boards 
of  Control  of  joint  stock  companies, 
limited  partnerships,  limited  liability 
companies,  registered  cooperative  so- 
cieties and  mutual  insurance  com- 
panies. 

The  Austrian  Act  of  May  17,  1919, 
providing  for  works  councils  is  almost 
identical  in  its  broad  outline  with  the 
German  Act. 

In  Great  Britain,  the  Whitley  Shop 
Committee  plan,  providing  for  national 
and  district  joint  councils,  was  created 
by  Parliament  during  the  War.  It  is 
operating  with  satisfaction  in  many 
industrial  establishments. 

In  Norway,  under  an  act  of  July  23, 
1920,  works  councils  are  to  be  set  up 
in  every  undertaking  where  one-fourth 
of  the  employees  demand  it. 

In  Luxemburg,  the  Grand  Ducal 
Decree  of  July  26,  1920,  provides  for 
the  establishment  of  permanent  works 
councils  in  all  undertakings  employing 
more  than  fifteen  workers. 

The  Czecho-Slovakian  Act  of  Febru- 
ary 25,  1920,  makes  provision  for 
works  councils  in  mines  and  allied 
undertakings.  On  July  1,  1920,  the 
Ministry  of  Railways  established  local, 
district  and  central  works  committees 
in  the  railroads;  and  the  workers  in  the 
tobacco  industry  were  permitted  repre- 
sentation on  local  and  central  com- 
mittees by  a  Decree  of  the  Ministry  of 
Finance  in  December,  1920. 

Manitoba  has  a  Joint  Council  of  In- 


38 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


dustry  for  the  adjustment  of  industrial 
differences.  It  is  reported  that  this 
Council  has  adjusted  disputes  which 
would  otherwise  have  resulted  in  con- 
troversies involving  serious  losses. 

In  Georgiey  Russia,  there  was  in  suc- 
cessful operation  in  1919  for  the  ad- 
justment of  wage  disputes,  a  wages 
council,  consisting  of  equal  numbers  of 
representatives  of  workers  and  em- 
ployers, but  this  country  is  now  oc- 
cupied by  Russia  and  under  Soviet  rule. 

The  example  set  by  these  countries  is 
spreading  to  others.  In  France,  Den- 
mark, Belgium,  and  even  in  South 
iVfrica  and  India  there  is  serious  and 
careful  study  of  employee  representa- 
tion and  a  decided  leaning  tow^ard  the 
adoption  of  some  plan  of  cooperation. 
In  India  some  factories  are  actually 
operating  under  such  plans. 

Moral  and  Cooperative  Aspects  of 
Works  Councils 

The  moral  content  of  the  idea  of 
works  councils  and  the  systematic 
promotion  of  common  counsel  which  it 
implies,  is  far  greater  than  the  narrow 
and  captious  phrase  "collective  bar- 
gaining. "  Class  conflicts  will  never  be 
averted  by  any  process  of  mere  bar- 
gaining. Some  community  of  interest 
must  be  defined  and  its  promotion 
sought  by  joint  action.  Collective  ac- 
tion, which  only  regards  grievances  and 
bargaining,  too  often  falls  into  collec- 
tive antagonism.  That  is  one  of  the 
reasons  why  some  employers  are  loath 
to  accept  it.  But  collective  function- 
ing, which  includes  the  idea  of  collec- 
tive cooperation  and  constructive  ef- 
fort, will  prove  successful.  Where  an 
employer  meets  his  employees  merely 
to  settle  grievances,  he  need  expect 
little  cooperation.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  he  provides  permanent  constitu- 
tional machinery  and  periodical  meet- 
ings to  discuss  the  opportunities  and 
duties  which  arise  from  time  to  time, 


there  can  gradually  be  created  a  greater 
community  of  effort  and  a  keener  reali- 
zation of  the  relations  of  each  man's  ef- 
fort to  the  whole.  Such  a  realization 
makes  a  stronger  appeal  to  the  creative 
instinct  of  men  than  a  system  which 
confines  the  interest  and  vision  to  a 
particular  process.  The  good  wall, 
cooperation,  and  willingness  to  sacri- 
fice for  the  common  good,  developed  by 
these  arrangements  in  some  of  the  more 
advanced  concerns,  surpass  anything 
previously  attained  in  large  factories. 
Even  those  whose  extreme  liberalism 
seeks  far  more  than  is  offered  by  this 
new  era  of  joint  conference  in  industry, 
should  encourage  these  arrangements 
as  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  w  ithout 
looking  upon  them  as  an  ultimate 
destination.  They  represent  a  tremen- 
dous stride  in  progress  by  substituting 
joint  conference  for  dictation  and  a 
constitutional  basis  of  industrial  govern- 
ment. It  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
the  great  mass  of  employers  can  be 
persuaded  to  look  further  until  experi- 
ence with  such  departures  has  given 
further  light.  After  this  experiment 
has  been  in  effect  for  a  reasonable 
period  of  time,  both  employers  and 
employees  wall  come  to  a  better  un- 
derstanding of  their  duties  and  will 
develop  a  better  vision  for  the  future. 
The  engine  of  industrial  progress  is 
travelling  rapidly,  and  w  ith  every  ad- 
vancement in  its  onward  movement, 
the  searchlight  penetrates  still  further 
the  darkness  of  the  future. 

Conclusion 

To  summarize  all  of  the  advantages 
of  shop  representation  is  a  huge  under- 
taking. Self-interest  is  no  longer  the 
exclusive  guide  of  conduct  and  mutual 
interests  are  regarded.  The  moral 
development  of  each  member  of  the 
factory  organization,  from  the  presi- 
dent down,  becomes  notable.  Under- 
executives  are  led  to  a  fuller  under- 


Employee  Representation 


39 


y 


standing  of  the  rank  and  file  and  the 
rank  and  file  take  a  new  interest  in 
business  problems.  Grievances  are 
aired  and  corrected  instead  of  breeding 
irritation  and  resentment.  Foremen 
are  restrained  by  a  consciousness  that 
their  decisions  may  be  reviewed.  The 
square  deal  is  safeguarded  by  full  hear- 
ings on  both  sides.  The  opportunities 
of  the  individual  are  better  protected 
and  special  talents  more  surely  dis- 
covered and  recognized.  The  workers 
obtain  a  better  appreciation  of  group 
responsibilities  and  the  true  meaning  of 
representative  government. 

Among  conservatives  there  are  wide 
differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  need  of 
progress  in  this  direction.  Such  vary- 
ing viewpoints  arise  from  different  con- 
ceptions as  to  the  durability  of  existing 
institutions.  Among  those  who  feel 
that  this  present  era  of  unrest,  like 
other  eras  which  have  come  and  gone, 
will  leave  the  fundamental  nature  of 
our  institutions  unchanged,  there  can 
be  little  incentive  for  such  experiments. 
But   among   those   who   believe   that 


present  arrangements  cannot  survive; 
that  there  is  much  in  the  factory  system 
with  all  of  its  advantages  of  quantitative 
production  to  constitute  a  social  men- 
ace and  make  potential  rebels  of  a  large 
number  of  workers,  there  is  a  common 
search  for  a  better  method  of  giving 
workers  a  larger  voice  in  matters  of 
direct  concern.  To  the  cautious  liberal 
who  does  not  disregard  the  practical 
requirements  of  business,  employee 
representation  offers  a  real  hope.  It 
involves  no  hasty  leap  from  one  social 
era  into  another,  not  any  violent 
cataclysm  or  taking  of  private  property, 
but  a  gradual  evolution  in  the  direction 
in  which  many  employers  have  already 
turned  their  faces.  Who  knows  its 
possibilities?  It  is  grounded  on  practi- 
cality and  has  the  great  advantage  of 
elasticity.  It  may  be  applied  con- 
servatively but  it  travels  the  road  of 
ideahsm  and  may  go  as  far  as  the 
capacity  of  the  workers  permit.  It 
may  be  only  the  half  w  ay  house  toward 
industrial  democracy,  but  it  surely 
faces  the  sunlight. 


V   , 


Moral  Influences  in  the  Adjustment  of  Industrial 

Disputes 

By  Basil  M.  ]VL\nly 

Former  Joint  Chairman,  National  War  Labor  Board 


TO  attempt  to  determine  the  effect 
of  moral  influences  in  the  adjust- 
ment of  industrial  disputes  is  very 
much  like  endeavoring  to  answer  the 
question,  *'  Who  won  the  War?"  Look- 
ing back  over  the  industrial  disputes 
with  the  intimate  history  of  which  I 
am  familiar,  I  find  it  very  difficult  to 
separate  and  weigh  the  part  which 
moral  influences  played  in  determining 
the  outcome  as  distinguished  from  such 
factors  as  the  economic  strength,  the 
strategic  position,  and  the  leadership 
of  the  respective  sides.  I  know  that  in 
nearly  every  noteworthy  industrial 
contest,  moral  influences,  particularly 
those  that  are  manifested  in  what  we 
are  pleased  to  call  public  opinion, 
played  a  large  part,  but  I  am  unable  to 
formulate  any  satisfactory  test  by 
which  one  can  determine,  even  approx- 
imately, the  extent  of  such  influences. 
There  is  in  some  respects  a  general 
analogy  y  which  must  not  be  pushed  too 
far,  between  industrial  disputes  and 
international  contests.  Napoleon's 
cjTiical  epigram,  "God  is  on  the  side  of 
the  heaviest  artillery,"  contains  just 
enough  truth,  both  for  war  and  for  in- 
dustry, to  make  it  a  dangerous  maxim. 
In  confirmation  of  this  cynical  attitude, 
I  have  seen  industrial  disputes,  in 
which  the  party  with  absolute  justice 
on  its  side,  and  with  the  strong  support 
of  public  opinion,  was  crushed  down 
by  ruthlessness  and  superior  resources. 
I  have  seen  also  cases  of  absolute  hold- 
ups, where  public  opinion  was  defied 
because  possession  of  a  strategic  posi- 
tion made  resistance  to  unjustified  de- 
mands impracticable.  So  far  as  I  can 
recall,  I  have  never  yet  seen  a  case  in 


which  moral  influences  or  public  opin- 
ion alone  were  sufficient  to  determine 
the  issue. 

Thus  far,  the  evidence  would  seem  to 
support  Napoleon's  maxim.  Never- 
theless, in  industrial  disputes,  as  in  war, 
morale  is  as  important  as  equipment 
and  resources.  And  it  is  in  the  main- 
tenance or  breakdown  of  morale  that 
moral  influences  and  the  force  of  public 
opinion  have  greatest  'weight.  When 
the  forces  are  fairly  well-matched  in 
equipment  and  resources,  the  outcome 
of  the  contest  depends  almost  entirely 
upon  morale. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  moral  influ- 
ences are  seldom  effective  except  where 
the  opposing  forces  are  of  approxi- 
mately equal  strength,  and  even  then 
thev  are  not  able  to  have  a  decisive 
effect  until  a  deadlock  has  been  reached. 
This  is  well  illustrated  in  the  coal  strike 
of  1922.  In  this  case  the  organized 
moral  influences  of  the  nation  ranged 
themselves  on  the  side  of  the  miners,  at 
least  in  demanding  that  the  operators 
carry  out  their  contract  to  meet  in  joint 
conference  with  the  union  for  the  nego- 
tiation of  a  new  agreement.  The  oper- 
ators refused  to  meet  in  joint  confer- 
ence and  to  this  extent  defied  public 
opinion,  because  they  knew  that  the 
funds  of  the  miners  were  depleted  and 
that  their  organization  was  disrupted 
by  internal  dissension.  Nevertheless, 
the  realization  that  justice  was  entirely 
on  their  side,  and  that  this  was  gener- 
ally recognized  throughout  the  coun- 
try, has  had  a  powerful  influence  in 
maintaining  the  morale  of  the  striking 
miners,  and  it  is  not  at  all  impossible 
that,  in  spite  of  their  slender  resources 


Moral  Influences  and  Industrial  Disputes 


41 


and  the  great  suffering  which  many  are 
already  enduring,  they  will  be  able  to 
hold  out  until  the  dwindling  coal  supply 
forces  a  deadlock  and  a  crisis.  If  this 
should  come  to  pass,  the  moral  forces 
of  the  country  will  then  have  an  oppor- 
tunity in  which  they  can  press  success- 
fully for  an  equitable  settlement  of  the 
differences  between  the  miners  and  the 
operators. 

Industrial  Standards 

So  far  we  have  been  dealing  primarily 
with  the  effect  of  moral  influences  upon 
particular  industrial  disputes.  There 
is,  however,  a  much  larger  field  in  which 
these  moral  influences  operate  with 
even  greater  power.  I  refer  to  the 
effect  upon  the  general  social  atmos- 
phere of  the  slow  processes  of  education 
which  are  manifested  in  the  establish- 
ment of  higher  industrial  standards. 
It  is  impossible  to  overestimate  the 
good  which  is  accomplished  by  the  edu- 
cational campaigns  of  such  organiza- 
tions as  the  National  Catholic  Welfare 
Council  and  the  Federal  Council  of 
the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America. 
Through  such  influences,  industrial 
conditions  which  were  the  subject  of 
bitter  contests  only  a  few  years  ago  are 
now  coming  to  be  accepted  as  the  con- 
ventional standards  of  industry.  In 
my  opinion,  it  is  in  this  field,  rather 
than  by  intervention  in  particular  dis- 
putes, that  the  churches  and  other 
organized  bodies  can  achieve  the  great- 
est and  most  lasting  results. 

The  W^ar  Labor  Board 

Some  fight  on  the  part  which  moral 
influences  play  in  the  adjustment  of 
industrial  disputes  may  be  gained  from 
a  brief  consideration  of  the  experiences 
of  the  War  Labor  Board.  On  the  sur- 
face, the  War  Labor  Board  had  behind 
it  merely  the  sanction  of  a  joint  agree- 
ment between  representatives    of  the 


two  leading  organizations  of  employers 
and  workers  and  the  force  of  a  presi- 
dential proclamation.  But  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that,  while  the  Board 
had  no  compulsory  powers  within  it- 
self, it  had  behind  it  the  full  war  powers 
of  the  government.  These  powers 
were  used,  I  believe,  only  twice,  once 
in  the  Smith  and  Wesson  case,  by  in- 
ducing the  War  Department  to  take 
over  and  operate  for  the  period  of  the 
war  a  corporation  which  flagrantly  re- 
fused to  abide  by  the  award  of  the 
Board,  and  once  in  the  Bridgeport  case, 
by  threatening  to  invoke  the  "work 
or  fight"  order  against  recalcitrant 
workers.  Nevertheless,  the  threat 
was  always  present,  and  during  the 
period  of  hostilities  was  generally  re- 
spected by  both  the  employers  and 
workers. 

The  part  which  moral  influences 
played  in  the  work  of  the  Board  was 
manifested  chiefly  in  its  code  of  princi- 
ples. These  were  a  set  of  declarations 
with  reference  to  some  of  the  funda- 
mental problems  of  industrial  relations, 
agreed  upon  by  a  joint  conference  of 
representatives  from  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  and  the  National 
Industrial  Conference  Board,  presided 
over  jointly  by  William  Howard  Taft 
and  Frank  P.  Walsh.  They  embodied 
the  principles  of  collective  bargaining 
and  the  living  wage,  and  are  so  well- 
known  that  they  need  not  be  quoted. 
They  represented,  in  all  probability, 
the  enlightened  public  opinion  of  the 
United  States  at  that  time.  Here  we 
have  an  example  of  the  far-reaching 
effects  of  moral  influences  in  the  adjust- 
ment of  industrial  dispute.  These  so- 
called  "principles"  of  the  War  Labor 
Board  were  merely  a  codification  of  the 
results  of  the  industrial  agitation  and 
economic  education  of  the  years  im- 
mediately preceding  the  Great  War. 
It  is  inconceivable  that  they  should 
have  been  adopted  either  in  letter  or  in 


40 


42 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


substance  at  the  time  of  the  Civil  War, 
or  even  as  late  as  the  Spanish-American 
War.  They  were  the  fruit  of  an  awak- 
ened public  conscience. 

It  is  true  that  these  principles,  par- 
ticularly those  which  proclaimed  the 
right  of  a  living  wage,  were  never  liter- 
ally   applied.     In    this    respect    they 
occupied  a  position  somewhat  like  the 
fundamental    principles    embodied    in 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  and 
the  Bills  of  Rights  of  the  various  states, 
which  have  never  yet  received  practical 
application  in  American  political  life. 
Nevertheless,  they  did  play  a  decisive 
part  in  determining  the  decisions  of  the 
Board.     For   example,    the    minimum 
rate  of  wages  in  the  so-called  Waynes- 
boro cases,  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
decisions  ever  rendered  by  an  arbitra- 
tion board,  was  fixed  at  an  amount 
substantially    higher    than    had    been 
originally  demanded  by  the  employees. 
This  decision  was  agreed  upon,  after  a 
debate    which    nearly    disrupted    the 
Board,  solely  upon   the   ground   that 
the   minimum  amount   demanded   by 
the  Waynesboro  employees  was  below  a 
living  wage,  could  effect  merely  a  tem- 
porary settlement,  and  would  in  any 
case  be  a  gross  violation  of  the  Board's 
principles.     In    making   its   award   in 
this  case,  the  Board  announced  that 
it  had  then  under  consideration   the 
determination  of  a  living  wage,  which 
would  be  applied  in  subsequent  cases. 
In  its  attempt  to  fix  the  amount  of  a 
living    wage,     however,     the     Board 
reached  what  appeared  to  be  an  un- 
breakable  deadlock,   and,   after   days 
of  debate,  finally  agreed  upon  a  com- 
promise resolution,  which  provided: 

That  for  the  present  the  Board  or  its 
sections  should  consider  and  decide  each 
case  involving  these  principles  on  its  par- 
ticular facts  and  reserve  any  definite  rule  of 
decision  until  its  judgments  have  been  suf- 
ficiently   numerous    and    their    operation 


sufficiently   clear  to   make   generalization 
safe. 

It  was  the  intention  of  the  labor  side 
of  the  Board  to  bring  the  determination 
of  a  living  wage  to  an  issue,  and  exten- 
sive investigations  were  conducted  for 
this  purpose.  But  the  plan  was  never 
carried  out  because  the  signing  of  the 
armistice  made  further  action  along 
this  line  impossible. 

Upon  other  points  than  a  living 
wage,  however,  the  decisions  of  the 
Board  were  in  large  measure  in  substan- 
tial accord  with  its  principles,  and  as  a 
participant  in  its  proceedings,  I  can 
say  with  some  assurance  that  without 
the  preliminary  agreement  upon  these 
principles  the  decisions  of  the  Board 
would  have  been  far  less  consistent 
and  much  more  in  the  nature  of  make- 
shifts. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  assume 
from  this  that  the  mere  adoption  of  a 
code   of  industrial   principles   will   be 
effective  in  the  settlement  of  industrial 
disputes.     This  is  clearly  shown  by  the 
experiences  of  the  War  Labor  Board 
following  the  armistice.     Its  code  of 
principles    remained    the    same.     The 
need  for  its  service  was  in  many  re- 
spects  increased   rather   than   dimin- 
ished, and  the  courts  held  that  the  War 
had  not  yet  terminated  and  that  con- 
sequently its  authority  was  nominally 
maintained.     Nevertheless,   its  power 
and     prestige     rapidly     declined.     It 
could  have  been  sustained  only  by  the 
full  weight  of  presidential  authority, 
but  the  President  went  to  Europe,  after 
committing  the  processes  of  readjust- 
ment and  reconstruction  in  the  United 
States  to  the  enlightened  wisdom  of 
the    nation's    business    men.     It    was 
about  this  time,  also,  that  the  moral 
influences   of   the   country   ceased   to 
function  or  went  into  hiding,  leaving 
the  field  clear  for  Mr.   Palmer,   Mr. 
Lusk  and  other  terrorists. 


Moral  Influences  and  Industrial  Disputes 


48 


) 


I  / 


,1 


Public  Opinion  and  Industrial 
Relations 

The  belated  attempt  to  restore  the 
prestige  of  moral  principles  in  the  field 
of  industrial  relations  by  the  summon- 
ing of  the  first  industrial  conference  in 
the  fall  of  1919  was  made  abortive  not 
only  by  gross  blunders  in  the  selection 
of  the  personnel  of  that  conference, 
but  also  by  certain  decidedly  immoral 
influences  which  had  been  permitted  to 
secure  the  ascendancy,  and  which  were 
determined  to  wreck  any  attempt  to 
secure  industrial  harmony  upon  the 
basis  of  righteous  principles. 

The  steel  strike,  which  came  almost 
simultaneously  with  the  calling  of  the 
industrial  conference,  was  a  case  in 
which  the  decision  should  have  turned 
upon  moral  issues,  but  instead  it  was 
determined  almost  entirely  by  brute 
force.  It  is  true  that  for  reasons 
which  need  not  now  be  given,  public 
^  opinion  was  turned  against  the  steel 
workers,  and  until  it  was  too  late,  it 
was  impossible  to  secure  attention  for 
even  the  most  outrageous  abuses  and 
grievances.  I  am  of  the  opinion,  how- 
ever, that  it  is  a  mistake  to  beheve 
that  this  subversion  of  public  opinion 
w^as  decisive  in  this  strike.  The  vic- 
tory of  the  steel  corporation  was  won 
by  the  clubs  of  police  and  constabu- 
lary, by  thugs  and  gunmen,  and  above 
all,  by  the  half  billion  dollars  of  ac- 
cumulated war  profits  which  enabled 
the  corporation  to  view  an  indefinite 
shut-down  with  equanimity.  Even 
if  the  Interchurch  World  Movement 
could  have  made  its  report  during  the 
early  days  of  the  strike,  even  if  public 
opinion,  guided  by  this  report,  had 
turned  against  the  steel  trust,  I  doubt 
if  the  strikers  could  have  won  even  a 
partial  victory  against  the  enormous 
resources  massed  against  them,  unless 
public  opinion  had  been  strong  enough 
to  break  down  the  corporation's  con- 


trol over  the  machinery  of  state  and 
local  government. 

In  the  case  of  the  steel  strike,  how- 
ever, the  moral  influences  of  the  nation 
were  prevented  from  functioning, 
partly  by  the  condition  of  temporary 
paralysis  to  which  I  have  already  al- 
luded, and  partly  by  the  lack  of  facts 
upon  which  to  base  a  proper  judgment. 
The  facts  were  not  developed  until  the 
Interchurch  World  Movement  com- 
pleted its  investigation  several  months 
later.  So  also  in  the  case  of  nearly 
every  other  industrial  dispute — we 
ascertain  the  truth  only  by  a  post 
mortem. 

A  Field  for  the  Church 

The  moral  influences  of  the  nation 
will  never  be  able  to  function  effec- 
tively in  the  adjustment  of  industrial 
disputes  until  they  are  equipped  in 
advance  with  the  facts  upon  which  to 
form  a  judgment,  and  with  which  pub- 
lic opinion  can  be  educated.  These 
facts  should  be  supplied  by  a  well- 
equipped  government  organization, 
trained  to  work  rapidly  and  at  the 
same  time  accurately.  Until  the  gov- 
ernment is  prepared  to  undertake  this 
obvious  duty  and  establish  such  an 
up-to-date  fact-finding  agency,  it 
would  seem  that  the  churches  might 
well  consider  the  joint  maintenance 
of  a  small  and  well -trained  staff  who 
could  report  the  facts  well  in  advance 
of  industrial  crises.  Around  such  a 
nucleus  of  ascertained  facts,  it  should 
be  possible  to  mobilize  the  moral  forces 
of  the  country. 

I  fully  realize  the  difficulties  that 
lie  in  the  way  of  such  ^plan.  Never- 
theless, the  far-reaching  results  which 
might  be  secured  would  seem  to  make 
it  worthy  of  considerable  effort.  How- 
ever, I  do  not  wish  to  overemphasize 
intervention  by  the  churches  or  other 
organizations  in  the  settlement  of 
industrial  disputes,  for  I  am  firm  in  the 


44 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


conviction,  which  I  have  already  ex- 
pressed, that  the  moral  influences  of 
the  country  can  be  most  effectively 
exercised  in  the  slow  processes  of  edu- 
cation of  the  nation  to  higher  industrial 
standards  and  ideals.  There  is  some 
danger,  indeed,  that  this  larger  func- 
tion of  education  might  be  interfered 
with  or  embarrassed  by  attempts  to 
intervene   in   particular   disputes.     If 


this  should  prove  to  be  the  case,  it 
would  seem  to  be  the  part  of  wisdom 
to  abandon  this  field  and  leave  the 
controversy  to  those  who  are  directly 
concerned  and  to  the  government, 
and  to  concentrate  attention  entirely 
on  the  formulation  and  dissemination 
of  the  great  principles  upon  which 
industrial  progress  must  necessarily 
be  based. 


W' 


y 


Industry  as  a  Service 


By  Fred  J.  Miller 

Consulting  Engineer,  Past  President  of  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers 


THE  idea  of  rendering  public  service 
by  labor  may  be  said  to  be  now  in 
its  third  stage  of  development.  In 
the  broader  sense  all  useful  productive 
work  is  and,  of  course,  always  has 
been  a  social  service. 

In  the  earlier  period  of  man's  ex- 
istence, there  was  very  little  of  co- 
operative effort.  Such  as  there  was, 
was  confined  to  members  of  a  family, 
confronted  with  the  task  of  maintain- 
ing themselves  by  direct  application 
of  brawn  and  such  brain  power  as  they 
possessed  to  the  materials  of  nature, 
which  were  then  everywhere  free  for 
such  appUcation.  These  materials  of 
nature  were,  of  course,  available  only 
within  the  Hmited  area  that  could 
be  reached  by  travel  on  foot,  and  by 
transportation  by  the  power  of  human 
muscles. 

Probably  there  was  little  or  no 
thought  among  these  primitive  people 
that  their  labor  was  in  any  sense  a  pub- 
lic service.  What  labor  they  did  was 
performed  under  the  stimulus  of  hun- 
ger, thirst,  the  unkind  or  annoying 
aspects  of  the  elements,  and  the  in- 
stinctive desire  for  the  perpetuation 
of  the  race. 

They  had  no  thought  that  any  of 
these  impulses  or  the  acts  growing 
out  of  them  were  especially  creditable 
to  themselves  or  of  service  to  others. 
There  was  no  "pubhc,"  in  the  modern 
sense,  to  be  served.  Yet  we,  with 
the  history  of  the  race  before  us  and 
with  our  much  broader  outlook, 
may  perceive  readily  enough  that 
by  simply  following  the  primitive 
impulses  of  their  primitive  nature, 
they  were  after  all  rendering  a  serv- 
ice without  which  no  society  or  organ- 


ized public  could  have  been  developed. 
In  a  later  period,  when  the  develop- 
ment of  unusual  skill  in  the  making 
of  implements  of  utility  and  of  war- 
fare,  and  the  specialization  and  the 
exchange  of  such  implements  by  their 
makers  for  the  products  of  the  chase 
had  resulted  in  the  beginnings  of  com- 
merce, there  must  have  followed  the 
first  conception  of  labor  as  a  public 
service,   and  the   maker   of   the   best 
spear  or  sling,  bow  and  arrow  or  trap, 
came  to  be  recognized  as  rendering  a 
special  service   to   the   tribe — service 
of    a   kind    not   otherwise   obtainable 
and    comparable    at    least    with    the 
service  rendered  by  the  most  doughty 
wielder    of    these    primitive    weapons 
and  appliances.     This  was  the  more 
clearly  perceived  and  appreciated  be- 
cause the  makers  and  the  users  came 
into  direct  contact  and  discussed  de- 
fects  and   failures,   their   causes   and 
possible  remedies. 

If  a  sup>erior  war  club  contributed 
to    an    important    victory    over    an 
enemy,  the  wielder  of  the  club  knew 
its  maker;  all  the  other  members  of 
the  tribe  knew  him  and  it  was  prac- 
tically impossible  for  him  not  to  re- 
ceive credit  for  his  superior  skill  and 
his   full   share    of   public    honor.     In 
fact,  it  is  not  unUkely  that  the  develop- 
ment of  specialized  skill  or  ability  by 
individuals  was  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful   incentives    to    the    formation    of 
tribes    or    groups    of    people,    having 
common   interests   of   a   fundamental 
character   which   could   be   best   pro- 
moted by  group  action  and  by  making 
available  for  all  members  of  the  group 
products  of  the  special  skill  attained 
by  various  individuals. 
45 


46 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


OF    Public 


Obscuring    the    Idea 

Service 

Though  this  primitive  industry, 
developed  through  many  ages,  re- 
sulted in  many  and  important  im- 
provements to  the  race,  the  direct 
contact  of  maker  and  user  continued 
to  be  the  rule  until  bv  the  introduction 
of  merchandizing  and  common  medi- 
ums of  exchange,  men  who  neither 
made  nor  used  weapons  or  implements 
came  to  play  an  important  part  in 
their  distribution  for  use.  Such  men 
had,  from  the  first,  a  pecuniary  incen- 
tive to  prevent  their  patrons  from 
knowing,  or  coming  into  contact  with, 
the  makers  of  their  wares,  fearing  that 
such  contact  would  result  in  more  or 
less  direct  trading  and  loss  of  business 
for  themselves.  Survivals  of  this  idea 
are  to  be  seen  in  present  day  mer- 
chandizing, especially  in  such  things 
as  groceries,  drugs,  millinery,  etc. 
Many  of  the  largest  retail  enterprises 
handle  goods  'either  not  marked  by 
the  name  of  any  maker  or  else  marked 
with  their  own  name  as  maker,  al- 
though they  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  real  manufacture  of  the  goods  but 
have  them  made  under  contract. 

Further  than  that,  by  the  growth 
of  very  large  industrial  establish- 
ments, especially  those  belonging  to 
corporations,  in  which  the  name  of 
the  corporation  is  given  the  greatest 
possible  publicity  and  the  individuals 
connected  with  it  often  systematically 
kept  in  anonymous  obscurity,  the 
makers,  who  are  the  real  servitors  of 
the  public,  are  unknown  to  that  public 
as  such.  In  the  lower  grades  of  em- 
ployment, even  the  names  of  many 
of  the  men  who  work  are  unknown, 
and  they  are  distinguished  one  from 
another  only  by  numbers  assigned  to 
them. 

Men  in  such  employment  can  not 
be  expected  to  realize  that  they  are 
rendering    a    public     service.     They 


know  only  that  they  must  serve  a 
boss  whom  they  too  often  fear;  too 
often,  also,  with  good  reason.  To 
succeed  in  pleasing  the  boss  sufficiently 
to  hold  their  jobs  is  all  that  concerns 
them,  and  it  is  to  him  only  that  they 
are  conscious  of  rendering  service. 

In  some  higher  planes  of  employ- 
ment familiar  results  of  the  attitude 
thus  developed  are  seen  in  the  be- 
havior of  ticket  sellers,  ticket  punch- 
ers at  train  gates,  trainmen  and  "pub- 
lic service'*  employees  in  general  who, 
in  one  way  or  another,  come  in  con- 
tact with  the  public.  They  often 
come  to  think  that  they  render  service 
to  only  one  man,  that  man  being  their 
innnediate  sui)erior,  who  has  the 
power  of  discharge  and  whom  they, 
therefore,  know  that  they  must  treat 
with  all  possible  consideration  and 
respect.  Subconsciously,  they  think 
of  him  as  being  the  source  of  their 
means  of  support,  and  seem  not  to 
recognize  in  the  least  that  their  real 
source  of  support  is  the  public  to  whom 
they  are  disagreeable  in  various  ways. 

Happily  there  have  been  of  late, 
many  indications  that  such  workers 
and  those  who  direct  them  are  being 
taught  that  it  is  the  public  which  sup- 
ports the  enterprises  in  which  they 
are  engaged;  that  it  is,  after  all,  this 
public  for  whom  the  service  is  main- 
tained and  that  it  pays  to  recognize 
this  fact  and  to  behave  accordingly. 

The  obscuring  of  the  idea  of  service 
to  the  public  is  shown  sometimes  by 
the  rules  made  by  or  under  the  influ- 
ence of  accountants  or  controllers,  who 
come  into  contact  with  the  public 
little,  if  at  all,  and  whose  only  concern 
is  to  see  to  it  that  the  system  which 
they  have  adopted  to  prevent  ir- 
regularity is  rigidly  enforced.  Under 
such  a  system,  an  elevated  railroad 
"tied  up"  by  a  fire  may  not  allow  its 
ticket  seller  to  return  the  money  just 
collected  from  the  passengers  so  that 
they  may  seek  other  means  of  trans- 


Industry  as  a  Service 


47 


^ 


( 


> 


i 


portation,  but  he  must  tediously  fill 
out  numbered  blanks,  sign  them,  tear 
them  from  a  book  and  give  them  to 
the    passengers,    already    exasperated 
by    delay    and     inconvenience,    who 
can  use  these  blanks  only  in  payment 
of  fares  at  some  other  time.     Mean- 
time, if  it  should  happen  that  a  tired 
mother  had  spent  her  last  remaining 
change  in  tickets  for  herself  and  chil- 
dren, she  may  walk  to  her  destination, 
or  otherwise  do  as  best  she  can.     It  is 
obvious  that  this  policy  is  pursued  only 
for  the  convenience  of  the  accounting 
department.     The    immediate    cause 
arises  from  a  too  narrow  view  of  the 
nature  of  the  industry  although  the 
l)rimary  cause  is  to  be  found  in  the 
modern   development   of  our  compli- 
cated and  indirect  methods  of  render- 
ing service  and  not,  as  we  are  often 
tempted  to  believe,  in  the  sheer  per- 
versity of  human  nature. 

Balking  the  Creative  Desire 

Perhaps    the    earlier   experience    of 
the  race  in  which  each  worker  was  able 
to  see  and  to  understand  the  nature 
of  the  service  rendered  by  him  and  to 
know  that  it  was  appreciated  at  its 
full  value,  has  implanted  in  our  na- 
tures that  trait  which  makes  it  irk- 
some  to    work   hard   for   long   hours 
daily,  performing  over  and  over  again 
a  simple  operation  upon  a  single  part 
of   a   complicated   machine,    knowing 
only  dimly  the  nature  of  the  work  per- 
formed by  the  machine,  and  nothing 
at   all   of   the   function   of   the   piece 
upon  which  we  continuously  perform 
our  monotonous  labor.     Whatever  the 
cause,  we  know  that  the  enthusiasm 
and  the  intense  devotion  of  the  boy  in 
the  construction  of  a  boat,  a  windmill, 
a  wagon  or  wireless  apparatus,  almost 
certainly  disappears  entirely  when  he 
afterwards  enters  a  factory  and  be- 
comes  "a  hand,"   making,   or  partly 
making,  only  a  small  part  of  a  ma- 
chine, in  which  he  is  inspired  to  take 


no  interest  whatever,  being  often  for- 
bidden by  factory  rules  to  enter  any 
department  of  the  factory  except  the 
one  in  which  he  works. 

While  our  personal  needs  or  those 
of  our  dependents  still  remain  for 
most  of  us  the  primary  incentive  to 
work,  it  is  becoming  clearer  daily  to 
those  who  conduct  our  industries, 
that  our  past  methods  have  violated 
an  ingrained  trait  of  human  nature — 
the  desire  to  accomplish  something 
which  we  know  to  be  worth  while; 
something  which  others  can  and  do 
appreciate  as  a  real  service  to  them. 

It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  many 
sincere  efforts  are  being  made  to  de- 
velop in  our  modern  workers  a  clearer 
perception  of  the  fact  that  all  useful 
work,  mental  or  manual,  is  a  public 
service  and  a  genuine  contribution 
to  the  advancement  of  the  race;  that 
it  is  the  right  of  the  worker  to  feel  the 
full  force  of  this  fact,  and  to  get  from 
his  work  some  degree  of  that  satisfac- 
tion and  inspiration  which  comes  from 
the  gratification  of  the  creative  in- 
stinct that  we  find  in  the  child  who 
makes,  entirely  with  his  own  hands, 
a  thing  that  is  useful  or  beautiful  or 
capable  of  giving  pleasure  to  himself 
and  to  others. 

The    Desire    to    Render    Service 

During  the  late  war,  there  were 
many  instances  of  both  skilled  and 
unskilled  workers  leaving  private  em- 
ployment to  work  in  government  ar- 
senals, because  they  could  more  clearly 
perceive  that  their  work  in  these  ar- 
senals was  a  direct  public  service — a 
personal  contribution  to  the  winning 
of  what  they  regarded  as  being,  more 
than  any  other,  a  people's  war.  In 
some  cases,  they  came  from  establish- 
ments in  which  they  had  been  work- 
ing on  government  contracts,  but  they 
preferred  to  work  directly  for  the  gov- 
ernment and  under  the  direction  of  men 
who  were  also  working  directly  for  the 


48 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


iii 


government  and  without  the  inter- 
vention of  those  whom  they  regarded 
as  mere  "profiteers." 

One  result  of  this  feeling  has  been 
that  very  many  of  these  men  who  were 
criticized  for  getting  the  highest  wages 
while  their  brothers  were  at  the  front 
serving  their  country  for  far  less,  now 
beheve  that  in  a  future  war,  if  it 
should  come,  not  only  soldiers  but  ab- 
solutely everybody  able  to  contribute 
in  any  way  to  the  winning  of  the  war 
should  be  conscripted,  supplied  with 
what  they  need  for  maintenance  and 
nothing  more,  and  that  there  should 
be  no  profit-making  by  anybody  as  a 
result  of  war.  An  idea  which,  what- 
ever else  we  may  think  of  it,  is  based 
upon  a  profound  belief  that  industry 
should,  in  times  of  national  peril,  be 
made  exclusively  a  public  service. 

It  is  true  enough  that  many  of  those 
classed  among  "the  workers"  have 
erroneous  ideas  concerning  what  con- 
stitutes public  service,  and  are  too  apt 
to  believe  that  those  who  do  not  lit- 
erally earn  their  bread  by  the  sweat  of 
their  brow  are  not  obeying  the  divine 
command  but  are  supported  by  those 
who  perform  manual  labor.  On  the 
other  hand,  among  the  brain  workers 
themselves,  there  is  too  general  a 
belief  that  anyone  who  can  make  a 
living,  or  even  a  fortune,  while  keeping 
within  the  law,  or  conforming  to  an 
established  custom,  is  necessarily  ren- 
dering a  public  service.  The  real 
facts  as  to  whether  or  not  he  is  ac- 
tually rendering  such  service,  are  not 
examined. 

The  grosser  forms  of  obtaining  a 
share  of  the  world's  goods  without 
contributing  to  them  are  deprecated 
or  condemned  by  all  of  us;  but  there 
is  a  considerable  territory  within  which 
efforts  to  obtain  wealth  without  ren- 
dering any  useful  service  whatever 
are  condoned,  and  sometimes  even 
highly  esteemed.  The  most  impor- 
tant of  these,  both  by  reason  of  its 


magnitude  and  by  its  effects  upon  our 
social  organization  and  manner  of  life,, 
is  the  system  by  which  one  member  of 
the  human  family  is  permitted  to  take 
from  others  a  large  share  of  what  they 
earn,  for  his  permission  to  use  that 
portion  of  the  earth  or  its  raw  materials, 
which  they  need  for  homes,  or  for 
places  in  which  to  carry  on  useful 
work.  The  most  superficial  examina- 
tion will  show  clearly  enough  that  he 
who  holds  title  to  land  on  which  he 
has  made  no  improvements  and  in- 
tends to  make  none,  but  only  charges, 
others  for  the  privilege  of  making 
them,  is  rendering  no  service  to  the 
public.  It  behooves  us  to  recognize 
that  all  such  things  are  being  more 
and  more  scrutinized  by  that  part  of 
the  public  whose  difficulty  in  obtaining 
a  good  living  stimulates  them  to  direct 
clear  thought  along  these  lines. 

We  all  need  to  recognize  more 
clearly  that,  not  only  is  all  useful  work 
always  and  everywhere  a  public  serv- 
ice, but  that  the  time  may  come,  and 
sooner  than  we  might  expect,  when  the 
test  of  the  social  desirability  of  any 
activity  will  be:  Does  it  render  a 
public  service?  Our  modern  indus- 
trial methods  have  obscured  too  much 
the  fundamental  facts  underlying 
these  matters,  and  we  have  departed 
too  far  from  the  ancient  condition 
when  all  the  members  of  a  tribe  or 
human  group  fared  well  or  ill  together, 
each  being  honored  in  accordance 
with  his  contribution  to  the  general 
well  being,  whether  by  the  chase,  in 
the  common  defense  or  in  socially 
beneficent  industry. 

When  we  have  done  away  with  the 
means  by  which  some  of  us  prosper 
without  rendering  any  useful  service, 
then  we  must  so  arrange  that  an  hon- 
est and  useful  worker  will  not  be  de- 
spised, but  will  be  enabled  to  under- 
stand that  his  work  is  appreciated  as 
a  service  and  will  be  rewarded  in  pro- 
portion to  its  value. 


Y 


Social  Concepts  in  Economic  Theory 

By  Samuel  McCune  Lindsay,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  Social  Legiislation,  Columbia  University 


IN  the  brief  space  allotted  to  a  single 
article  it  is  neither  possible  to  treat 
exhaustively  nor  trace  historically  the 
development  of  recent  social  concepts 
in  economic  science.  In  view  of  the 
growing  weight  of  authority  attaching 
to  economic  theory  and  reasoning  in 
the  minds  of  practical  men  of  affairs 
and  those  who  shape  and  make  public 
policy,  it  may  serve  a  useful  purpose  to 
point  out  some  of  the  social  concepts 
that  now  find  a  place  in  the  economist's; 
analysis  and  explanation  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  wealth. 

A  rather  remarkable  humanizing 
process  in  economic  theory  can  be 
traced  for  nearly  a  half  century  or  from 
about  the  Centenary  of  Adam  Smith's 
Wealth  of  Nations  in  1876,  when  Walter 
Bagehot  labored  to  justify  the  mecha- 
nistic and  objective  isolation  of  eco- 
nomic facts  in  order  to  insure  an  exact 
science  of  economics  which  was  to  be 
as  serviceable  in  extending  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  world  of  work  and  business 
as  the  physical  sciences,  which  were  the 
glory  of  that  day,  had  been  in  teaching 
men  to  know  the  natural  world  in  which 
they  lived.^  Carlyle's  diatribes  on  the 
"dismal  science"  were  born  of  as  little 
knowledge  and  appreciation  of  what 
economi.sts  were  about  and  of  what 
political  economy  was  good  for  as  the 
maladversions  of  Harriet  Martineau 
and  the  pseudo-economists  in  Parlia- 
ment nearly  a  half  century  earlier,  who 
denounc<*d  the  Factory  Acts  as  opposed 

^  Walter  Bagehot,  Economic  Studies:  Postulates 
of  Eng.  I  Political  Economy.  Pp.  255-260;  Pre- 
Ivninaries  of  Pol.  Econ.,  p.  319.  Hartford 
Traveler  g  Jijs.  Co.,  K^J^t/^  Works  of  W.  Bagehot, 
Voh5. 


to  all  sound  economics  and  seized  upon 
loose  statements  of  economic  theories  of 
free  competition  and  of  the  forces  of 
demand  and  supply  "to  quote  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  the  working  classes 
in  their  place."  ^ 

In  fact  as  Marshall  has  well  pointed 
out  all  of  the  real  economists  of  the 
early  thirties  and  forties,  McCulloch, 
Tooke  and  others — with  the  exception 
of  Nassau  Senior,  who  wrote  against 
them  "when  he  had  only  begun  to 
study  economics" — supported  the  Fac- 
tory Acts,  and  were  not  unmindful  of 
the  greater  range  that  had  to  be  given 
to  collective  as  opposed  to  individual 
action  in  economic  affairs.  The  fact 
that  Nassau  Senior  a  few  years  later 
formally  recanted  his  opinions  has  been 
generally  overlooked  or  forgotten  by 
students  of  the  English  industrial  his- 
tory in  the  early  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century .2  No  one  shows  better  than 
Marshall  himself,  in  the  first  edition  of 
his  Principles  of  Economics  which  ap- 
peared in  1890,  the  great  change  that 
had  come  over  the  masters  of  economic 
theory  as  a  result,  in  part,  of  the  influ- 
ence of  the  historical  school  of  economic 
research  and  of  biological  studies  and 
the  development  of  the  biological  and 
social  sciences. 

Economics  at  the  close  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  and  ever  since  has  lost 

2  Alfred  Marshall,  Principles  of  Economics,  8th 
Edit.  1920,  App.  B,  6,  p.  763  note.  Marshall  in 
his  Industry  and  Trade  (3rd  Edit.  1920)  App.  E. 
on  "The  British  movement  toward  free  trade" 
says:  "It  does  not  appear  that  any  eminent 
economists  maintained  a  position  of  hostility  to 
the  Factory  Acts;  though  they  were  bitterly 
opposed  by  some  WTiters  who  had  a  superficial 
knowledge  of  economics." 


49 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


n 


nothing  in  its  positive  value  as  a 
science,  and  it  has  gained  a  great  deal 
in  its  applicability  and  service  to  the 
real  world  in  which  we  live,  by  reckon- 
ing with  human  and  social  factors  as 
well  as  the  "definite  and  exact  money 
measurements  of  the  steadiest  motives 
(that  is,  those  which  can  be  measured 
best  quantitively)  in  business  life."  ^ 

Even  John  Stuart  Mill,  in  his  rejec- 
tion of  an  early  ambition  to  contribute 
to  a  more  abstract  science  of  economics 
and  in  his  great  work  published  in  1848 
which  he  called  Principles  of  Political 
Economy  with  some  of  their  applications 
to  Social  Philosophy,  showed  plainly 
the  transition  from  the  purely  mecha- 
nistic concepts  of  the  period  dominated 
by  the  influence  of  the  thinking  and  rea- 
soning of  Adam  Smith,  Malthus  and 
Ricardo  to  the  social  factors  and  the 
humanizing  process  that  transformed 
economics  in  the  hands  of  Marshall 
and  his  contemporaries  in  England  and 
their  colleagues  in  America  at  the 
beginning  of  the  twentieth  century. 

Social  Concepts 

Without  fiu-ther  attempt  to  appraise 
the  extent  or  value  of  this  socializing 
process  in  economic  theory,  let  us  ask 
what  are  some  of  the  concrete  social 
concepts  which  are  considered  capable 
of  definite  measurement  and  are  now 
affecting  the  scope,  character  and  con- 
tent of  economic  laws. 

There  are  at  least  five  of  major 
importance, 

(1)  Cooperation  as  a  factor  in  pro- 
duction, especially  cooperation  between 
labor,  management  and  capital. 

(2)  Standard  of  living  and  the 
maintenance  of  a  national  minimum  in 
relation  to  wages  and  productivity  of 
labor. 

(3)  Stabilizing  demand  for  so-called 
common  necessities,  or  goods  affected 

3  Marshall,  Principles  of  Economics,  Book  1, 
Chapter  2,  8th  Edit.  1920. 


with  a  public  interest,  such  as  trans- 
portation, fuel,  food,  clothing  and 
shelter,  in  relation  to  unemployment 
and  interrupted  production. 

(4)  Industrial  peace,  and  the  public 
or  non-participants'  interest. 

(5)  Collective  responsibility  for  the 
risks  and  hazards  of  industry  assumed 
by  labor,  management  and  capital. 

Cooperation 

Cooperation  between  labor,  capital 
and  management  is  increasingly  recog- 
nized as  a  factor  in  production  having 
important  relations  to  productivity  of 
the  individual  worker  as  well  as  of  the 
industry.  Hence  it  bears  an  important 
relation  to  wages,  labor  costs,  the  elimi- 
nation of  waste,  and  profits.  Such 
cooperation  as  is  here  contemplated  is 
secured  only  where  the  machinery 
exists  in  an  industry,  or  more  frequently 
in  a  single  plant,  for  full  and  frank 
conference  between  the  management 
and  their  employees.  It  finds  its  full 
fruition  when  the  usual  labor  contract, 
whether  made  with  or  through  unions 
or  with  employees  individually,  is 
based  on  a  more  extensive  knowledge 
on  the  part  of  the  management  of  the 
cost  and  standard  of  living,  the  train- 
ing and  ambitions,  the  racial  and  group 
peculiarities  and  sensibilities  of  the 
workers  who  supply  both  the  skilled 
and  unskilled  labor  which  the  industry 
or  plant  requires;  likewise  when  it  is 
based  on  a  more  thorough  and  intimate 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  workers 
of  the  economics  of  the  business  proc- 
esses, the  cost  accounting,  market 
conditions,  etc.,  affecting  the  product 
of  the  business. 

Such  cooperation  may  directly  affect 
unit  costs  of  production  and  indirectly 
affect  every  other  economic  factor  en- 
tering into  or  flowing  from  the  produc- 
tion of  economic  goods.  It  means  a 
great  deal  more  than  merely  a  necessary 
incident  in  efforts  to  secure  industrial 


Social  Concepts  in  Economic  Theory 


51 


i 


¥ 


v\ 


>. 


peace.  There  are  really  a  great  many 
ways  in  which  cooperation  between 
employers  and  employees  or  between 
labor,  management  and  capital  is 
sought  and  being  brought  about.  Shop 
committees,  works  councils,  industry- 
wide councils  and  many  plans  growing 
out  of  experiments  in  industrial  democ- 
racy are  in  actual  operation  in  hundreds 
of  plants  and  many  industries  through- 
out the  United  States  and  Great 
Britain  ."^  The  progress  of  such  experi- 
ments will  depend  largely  on  the 
initiative  of  employers  and  the  recogni- 
tion of  a  new  responsibility  on  the  part 
of  industry  and  management.  The 
economic  significance  of  such  experi- 
ments will,  therefore,  vary  with  the 
extent  to  which  a  particular  industry 
or  industry  as  a  whole  consciously 
assumes  responsibility  for  creating 
conditions  that  make  for  cooperative 
relations. 

Standard  of  Living 

A  second  social  concept  that  deserves 
and  is  receiving  serious  consideration  as 
a  factor  in  economic  theory  is  that  of  a 
standard  of  living.  Efforts  to  set  up  a 
standard  of  living  as  a  measure  of  rea- 
sonable wages  have  been  varied  and 
have  already  attained  considerable 
success  especially  in  industries  operat- 
ing under  governmental  supervision 
and  regulation.  Thus  the  wage  boards, 
provided  in  the  minimum  wage  laws 
of  several  countries  and  of  some  dozen 
or  more  states  and  the  authorities 
established  in  government  controlled 
industries  during  the  War  as  well  as 
the  commissions  or  boards  which  regu- 
late wages  or  working  conditions  jn 
public  utilities  and  in  transportation, 
all  give  weight  in  their  determinations 

*  Constructive  experiments  in  industrial  co- 
operation between  employers  and  employees  by 
Sam  A.  Lewisohn,  Proceedings  of  the  Academy  of 
Political  Science,  v.  9,  No.  4,  Jan.  1922,  p.  1  or 
539. 


to  the  statistical  data  now  available  to 
show  the  fluctuations  in  family  budgets. 
The  aim,  of  course,  is  to  find  for  differ- 
ent localities  and  for  different  indus- 
tries the  minimum  amount  necessary 
to  maintain  a  normal  family  of  five  in  a 
state  of  health  and  physical  efficiency 
and  to  regard  this  amount  as  a  base 
below  which  the  bargaining  of  the  mar- 
ket shall  not  depress  the  normal  level 
of  real  wages.     The  records  of  many 
wage  boards  reveal  interesting  results 
whenever  representatives  of  employers 
and  workers  in  any  particular  industry 
get  together  around  a  table  and  agree 
upon  the  items  that  shall  enter  into  a 
normal  standard  of  living  and  the  cost 
of  those  items.    Invariablv  the  total  is 
greater  than  the  market  rate  of  wages 
in  the  industry  investigated.     This  is 
true  even  where  the  standard  agreed 
upon  is  conservative  and  more  so  when 
the  standard  includes,  as  it  should,  in 
addition  to  provision  for  health  and 
physical  efficiency,  provision  for  savings 
or  for  insurance  contributions  to  protect 
workers  from  the  risks  of  unemploy- 
ment, invalidity  and  old  age,  and  also 
adequate  minimum  provision  for  educa- 
tion,  recreation   and  participation   in 
community  and  citizenship  enterprises. 
The  data  available  for  determining  a 
subsistence  wage  are  more  readily  ob- 
tained from  the  recorded  experiences 
of  working  people  than  the  data  for 
ascertaining    what     is     necessary    to 
provide  a  moderate  standard  of  com- 
fort and  economic  security. 

Where  workers  are  not  given  any 
assistance,  either  through  strong  unions 
or  through  minimum  wage  laws  or 
through  governmental  protection,  in 
their  bargaining  power  with  their 
employers,  it  is  an  open  question 
whether  marginal  wages  are  not  gen- 
erally fixed  by  industries  that  are  really 
parasitic  or  by  that  part  of  an  industry 
that  is  parasitic  and  would  not  exist 
except  for  the  tax  it  imposes  upon  the 


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community  through  the  doles  of  pubUc 
and  private  charity.  Subsidized  in- 
dustries may  be  necessary  and  justifi- 
able under  clearly  knowTi  conditions 
and  the  recognition  of  a  minimum 
standard  of  living  in  any  industry  or 
in  any  community  is  a  valuable  aid  to 
the  public  knowledge  of  those  condi- 
tions and  will  undoubtedly  serve  as  an 
effective  check  upon  abuses.  A  stand- 
ard of  living,  however,  officially  deter- 
mined and  frankly  recognized,  serves 
a  more  important  purpose,  for  em- 
ployers and  workers  alike,  as  a  guide 
and  measure  of  the  productivity  of  the 
workers  and  the  organization  and 
management  of  an  industry. 

Common  Necessities 

A  third  social  concept  which  has 
attained  even  greater  economic  signifi- 
cance in  all  highly  organized  industrial 
communities  is  that  which  has  segre- 
gated an  increasing  number  of  economic 
goods  and  services  regarded  as  common 
necessities,  or  affected  with  a  public 
interest,  such  as  transportation,  food, 
fuel,  shelter  and  clothing.  Here  we 
find  a  stabilized  demand.  We  also 
find  that  the  distribution  of  population 
and  the  highly  developed  division  of 
labor  in  modern  industrial  societies 
makes  interrupted  production  and 
unemployment  a  more  serious  factor 
which  cannot  be  dealt  with  satisfac- 
torily through  the  ordinary  channels  of 
free  competition  and  the  normal  work- 
ing of  the  unrestricted  law  of  supply 
and  demand.  If  uninterrupted  pro- 
duction is  to  be  maintained  and  the 
ordinary  fluctuations  in  demand  are 
successfully  stablized,  evidently  a  social 
compulsion  will  be  exercised  and  will 
profoundly  affect  the  bargaining  power 
of  both  labor  and  capital.  This  social 
compulsion  may  not  go  to  the  extent 
of  conscription  either  of  labor  or 
capital.  Compulsory  military  service 
and  even  the  conscription  of  capital 


may  become  necessary  and  are  recog- 
nized as  legitimate  in  time  of  war  when 
the  life  of  the  nation  is  at  stake.  No 
such  principle,  however,  nor  even  social 
pressure  which  would  violate  the 
constitutional  guarantee  of  a  free 
people  against  involuntary  servitude,  is 
necessary  or  expedient  in  a  peaceful 
industrial  state.  Other  means  are 
available  and  effect iv^e  to  achieve  the 
necessary  social  pressure  not  incon- 
sistent with,  but  rather  based  upon, 
a  broader  concept  of  social  and  indus- 
trial justice. 

The  present  situation  in  the  coal  in- 
dustry in  the  United  States  furnishes  a 
good  illustration  of  the  maladjustment 
of  economic  forces.  In  the  production 
of  soft  coal  especially  there  is  a  surplus 
of  possibly  40  per  cent  of  workers  en- 
gaged in  the  industry  over  the  number 
which  can  be  employed,  at  living  wages 
on  an>i:liing  like  full  time,  to  meet  the 
market  conditions  of  demand  for  that 
product;  and  likewise,  there  is  a  surplus 
of  capital  engaged  in  the  operation  of 
mines,  which  cannot  be  profitably 
operated  at  prices  fair  to  the  consumer, 
for  coal  which  could  be  supplied  by  the 
more  intensive  operation  of  existing 
better  mines.  No  solution  for  this 
))roblem  seems  possible  except  nation- 
alization of  the  mines  or  their  operation 
under  government  supervision  and 
control.  The  latter  method  might  be 
achieved  without  nationalization  by  a 
plan  of  regional  unification,  regulation 
of  prices,  priorities  of  transportation 
facilities,  and  some  scheme  of  setting 
aside  a  reserve  fund  out  of  the  regulated 
price  to  compensate  unemployed  work- 
ers and  unemployed  capital  invested  in 
unused  mines  until  such  time  as  the 
surplus  capital  and  the  number  of  sur- 
plus workers  could  be  gradually  re- 
duced to  what  the  industry  can  nor- 
mally use  on  a  profitable  basis.  Regional 
unification  coupled  with  regional  com- 
petition along  the  lines  contemplated 


V: 


Social  Aspects  in  Economic  Theory 


53 


r 


^ 


'> 


in  the  transportation  act  for  the 
regulation  of  railways  under  govern- 
ment supervision,  but  with  private 
operation,  might  be  relied  upon  to 
protect  the  interests  of  the  consumer. 

Industrial  Peace 

A  fourth  social  concept  is  closely 
allied  to  that  of  the  segregation  of 
production  of  common  necessities  or 
goods  affected  with  a  public  interest 
which  we  have  just  discussed,  namely, 
the  concept  of  industrial  peace.  The 
time  has  come,  says  Mr.  B.  Seebohn 
Rowntree,  "for  those  who  are  respon- 
sible for  the  conduct  of  industry  to 
think  industrial  peace,  and  to  set  it 
before  themselves  as  an  ideal,  to  be 
realized,  not  in  some  far  distant 
century,  but  now.  Its  realization  is 
perfectly  possible.  ...  It  cannot  be 
secured  by  'keeping  the  workman  in 
his  place.'  The  day  for  that  kind  of 
thing  is  past.  .  .  .  There  remains 
only  one  way  to  establish  industrial 
peace:  It  is  to  remove  the  occasions  of 
industrial  war."^  Mr.  Rowntree,  him- 
self a  large  and  successful  employe '^ 
with  considerable  experience  in  public 
service  in  industrial  relations  on  a 
national  scale,  speaks  not  only  for  his 
own  country,  Great  Britain,  but  has 
outlined  a  detailed  plan  based  on  actual 
British  experience  and  a  scholarly 
economist's  analysis,  observation  and 
conclusions,  based  not  only  on  British 
experience,  but  on  a  knowledge  of  the 
general  economic  factors  of  countries 
as  varied  in  their  industrial  organiza- 
tion as  Belgium,  France  and  the  United 
States,  which,  however,  have  so  much 
that  is  fundamentally  common  in  their 
industrial  and  economic  processes. 

Industrial  peace  means  a  recognition 
of  the  force  represented  by  the  general 

*"The  Human  Side  of  Business  Administra- 
tion," Atlantic  Monthly,  April,  1922,  and  The 
Human  Factor  in  Business  by  B.  S.  Rowntree, 
Longmans,  London,  192L 


public  or  the  non-participants  in  the 
ordinary  economic  struggle.  That  part 
of  the  body  politic,  more  numerous  than 
all  of  the  wage-earners  and  the  share 
holders  or  investors  involved  in  any 
single  industry,  or  even  in  any  group 
conflict  in  industry,  but  interested  as 
consumers  in  the  stability  of  all  indus- 
try, has  rights  and  the  power  to  enforce 
them.  These  rights  and  public  opin- 
ion, which  in  the  last  analysis  is  deter- 
mined by  the  way  in  which  they  are 
respected,  constitute  an  economic  force 
which  must  be  increasingly  reckoned 
with. 

Collective  Responsibility 

A  fifth  social  concept  which  grows 
out  of  that  of  industrial  peace  and 
indeed  is  almost  a  corollary  of  it  is  that 
of  collective  responsibility  for  the  risks 
and  hazards  of  industry  assumed  by 
labor,  management  and  capital.  In 
other  words,  the  public  is  gradually 
gaining  a  certain  practical  working 
knowledge  of  economic  facts.  As  a 
result  it  is  saying  to  wage-earners :  We 
are  prepared  to  assume  as  a  collective 
responsibility,  ahd  to  pay  the  cost  in 
the  prices  we  pay  for  the  goods  you 
produce,  those  risks  of  unemployment, 
of  industrial  accident,  perhaps  even 
of  sickness,  certainly  of  occupational 
diseases,  invalidity  and  old  age,  which 
have  heretofore  fallen  almost  exclu- 
sively upon  your  individual  shoulders 
and  for  which  you  are  individually 
unable  to  provide  economically  and 
adequately  through  such  organization 
as  you  alone  can  effectuate.  It  is  pre- 
pared to  say  likewise  to  management: 
If  you  will  assume  as  a  responsibility  of 
industry,  not  merely  the  making  of 
profits,  but  also  the  maintenance  of 
standards,  which  will  ensure  social  and 
industrial  justice  and  a  certain  modi- 
cum, at  least,  of  economic  security  for 
both  the  workers  and  the  capital  re- 
quired to  keep  your  industry  going;  we 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


will  back  you  up,  pay  the  cost  in 
reasonable  prices  and  give  community 
support  to  deal  effectively  with  out- 
laws, brigands  and  pirates,  who  now 
operate  to  break  down  those  standards. 

Such  in  brief  are  a  few  of  the  more 
important  social  concepts  that  are 
shaping  themselves  in  the  minds  of 
an  increasing  number  of  people  in 
democratic  self-governing  industrial 
states  all  over  the  world.  Politicians 
may    play    with    them    and    thwart 


them,  and  demagogues  may  seek  to 
divert  them  to  unholy  uses;  econo- 
mists, however,  upon  whom  we  must 
rely  for  ultimate  guidance  in  deter- 
mining public  policies,  will  reckon  with 
them  as  new  forces  of  great  promise. 
They  may  necessitate  the  rewriting 
of  some  of  the  older  laws  of  produc- 
tion, distribution  and  consumption. 
They  have  already  transformed  the 
dismal  science  into  a  human  science 
of  greater  authority  and  of  immeasur- 
ably greater  service  to  humanity. 


]  ' 


./  ' 


fc 


X 


r 


> 


Property  From  a  Christiari  Standpoint 

By  Richmond  Dean. 

Vice-President,  The  Pullman  Company,  Chicago,  Illinois 


CHRISTIANITY  in  industry,  and 
in  all  dealings  man  to  man,  would 
cure  many  of  our  troubles,  and  prove  a 
solution  of  much  of  the  unrest  now 
present  in  our  body  politic.  This  con- 
dition will  only  be  brought  about  wlien 
the  great  majority  of  the  people  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  all  the  teachings  of 
Christ  are  clearly  adapted  to  all  condi- 
tions of  life.  These  teachings  are  all 
simple,  and  the  maxims  set  forth  are  in 
language  that  can  be  understood  by  all ; 
they  are  intensely  human,  and  conse- 
quently entirely  practical. 

We  are  all  inclined  to  look  upon 
things  religious  as  pertaining  to  churches 
only,  but  fail  to  realize  that  they  should 
be  a  part  of  our  daily  life,  and,  if  in- 
troduced in  our  dealings  with  each 
other,  would  tend  to  smooth  the  way 
and  make  life  more  pleasant  for  all 
mankind.     Peter  in  his  teachings  says: 

Honor  all  men.  Love  the  brother- 
hood. Fear  God.  Honor  the  King.  Ser- 
vants be  subject  to  your  masters  with  all 
fear,  not  only  to  the  good  and  gentle,  hut 
also  the  forward. 

It  seems  so  easy  to  follow  the  straight 
and  narrow  path,  and  yet  many  of  us  do 
not  do  so;  for,  while  the  great  majority 
of  mankind  is  honest  and  unselfish, 
there  are  three  forces  which  actuate  a 
number  of  people,  and  which  contrib- 
ute largely  to  the  unrest  and  unsettled 
conditions  now  existing;  these  forces 
are:  greed,  selfishness  and  dishonesty. 
These  forces  are  not  confined  to  any 
one  class,  but  exist  in  all  society.  This 
results  in  the  "human  equation"  which 
must  be  taken  into  consideration  in  all 
dealings  between  humankind,  and  it  is 
in  the  endeavor  to  control  these  forces 


that  Congress  and  legislatures  enact 
so  much  legislation,  a  great  deal  of 
which  is  useless.  Mankind  can  per- 
haps be  controlled  by  such  laws,  but  no 
legislation  ever  enacted  can  make  an 
honest  man  out  of  a  dishonest  one. 
We  must,  then,  in  the  solution  of  our 
problems,  recognize  and,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, deal  with  this  "human  equation." 

Eleivi'ents  Necessary  to 
Production 

Three  elements  alone  result  in  pro- 
duction; these  are  management,  labor 
and  capital.  The  absence  of  any  one 
of  these  elements  nullifies  the  endeavor 
of  the  others,  and  renders  their  efforts 
fruitless.  It  follows  that  each  of  these 
elements  is  entitled  to  a  fair  and  rea- 
sonable daily  wage,  and,  if  after  the 
payment  of  this  daily  wage  to  each, 
there  should  remain  a  surplus,  such 
surplus  should  be  divided  in  a  fiiir  and 
equitable  manner  between  the  ele- 
ments that  produced  it. 

It  is,  however,  a  well  known  fact 
that  neither  management  nor  labor  \\  ill 
contribute  to  any  deficit  which  uiay 
occur  from  the  operation  of  a  business, 
and  it  is  then  only  fair  that  before  any 
surplus  resulting  from  the  year's  opera- 
tion is  divided,  there  should,  in  all 
fairness,  be  deducted  and  set  aside  a 
certain  percentage  of  such  surplus  to 
insure  the  daily  wage  of  capital  in 
years  when  a  deficit  occurs ;  for  it  is  not 
reasonable  to  expect  one  element  to 
bear  the  total  burden  of  a  deficit. 

The  year  1921  is  a  forcible  illustra- 
tion of  this  condition,  for  if  manv  of 
the  large  companies  had  j^^)t  provided 
for  "the  rainy  day,"  and  accunmlated 
a  large  surplus,  they  would  have  been 


^5 


56 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


forced  to  suspend  operations,  in  which 
event  there  would  have  been  no  em- 
ployment for  either  management  or 
labor. 

It  is  admitted  labor  can  often  sug- 
gest methods  that  will  result  in  econ- 
omy and  efficiency;  it  is  therefore  logi- 
cal that  it  have  some  voice  in  the  con- 
duct of  that  part  of  the  business  which 
relates  to  its  endeavor,  and  to  this  end  a 
committee  of  the  three  elements  should 
meet  frequently  to  discuss  and  decide 
the  questions  which  arise  in  regard  to 
the  various  phases  of  production.  This 
same  committee,  or  a  similar  one, 
should  pass  upon  all  questions  in  re- 
gard to  employment  and  discharge;  and 
the  committee  should  also  be  vested 
with  authority  to  provide  for  the  relief 
of  worthy  employees  who  might  be  ab- 
sent on  account  of  sickness,  accident  or 
causes  beyond  their  control.  If,  how- 
ever, an  employee  is  absent  on  account 
of  laziness  or  debauchery,  it  is  to  the 
interest  of  all  that  his  services  be  dis- 
pensed with;  such  relief  should  be  a 
charge  against  the  business. 

Pensions  should  be  coupled  with  an 
insurance  feature,  and  the  attendant 
expense  should  be  participated  in  by 
all.  Often  a  wife,  or  the  immediate 
family,  is  left  destitute  on  the  death  of 
a  pensioner  under  present  methods.  It 
is  common  knowledge  that  what  costs 
nothing  is  not  valued;  furthermore,  the 
participation  in  this  expense  is  very 
likely  to  instill  a  spirit  of  thrift,  which 
is  much  needed  in  our  economic  life 

today. 

Unions  in  themselves  are  undoubt- 
edly good  for  all  interests  concerned, 
but  they  should  be  internal.  It  is  a 
well  known  fact  that  unions,  as  we 
know  them  at  present,  have  been  in 
many  cases  shamefully  subordinated 
to  the  pej^onal  interests  of  those 
charged  witn  the  administration  of  af- 
fairs, and  have  resulted  in  graft,  bomb- 
ing and  even  murder.     A  recent  article 


by  Prof.  J.  Laurence  Laughlin,  of  the 
University  of  Chicago,  entitled  "The 
Perils  of  Labor,"  sets  forth  the  danger 
of  this  situation  very  clearly. 

Opportunity  should  always  be  af- 
forded to  all,  to  obtain  an  interest  in 
the  business  in  which  they  are  engaged, 
and  we  have  many  instances  of  those  in 
a  lowly,  subordinate  position  climbing 
the  ladder  of  success  by  industry, 
thrift  and  application. 

WTien  our  business  is  conducted  as 
'*our"  business,  in  honor  and  fairness 
by  all  concerned,  it  is  sure  to  succeed. 

Provision  for  Hard  Times 

Centuries  of  experience  have  demon- 
strated that  at  intervals  there  occurs 
what  we  call  hard  times;  during  such 
periods  the  natural  law  of  supply  and 
demand  comes  into  play,  and  the  result 
is  depression  in  business  and  unem- 
ployment. Such  periods  can  in  the 
writer's  opinion  be  provided  for  in  the 
following  manner: 

The  federal,  state  and  municipal 
governments  are  always  making  ap- 
propriations for  buildings,  roads,  water- 
ways and  various  other  improvements, 
most  of  which  are  not  urgent,  and  can 
be  held  in  abeyance  without  detriment 
to  the  public.  Under  such  conditions 
the  appropriations  should  be  put  in  the 
hands  of  trustees,  chosen  from  the  peo- 
ple of  the  community  concerned;  then 
in  times  of  depression  these  funds  can 
be  used  to  furnish  work  for  the  unem- 
ployed until  business  revives,  to  the 
extent  that  there  is  work  for  all.  This 
plan,  I  am  sure,  will  not  appeal  to  those 
politicians  who  are  in  politics  for  what 
is  in  it  for  them  individually. 

There  is  a  proportion  of  people,  who, 
through  causes  beyond  their  control, 
are  not  able  to  earn  their  daily  bread;  a 
part  of  these  can  be  trained,  or  rather 
educated,  to  certain  trades  or  profes- 
sions; and  the  education,  care  and 
maintenance  of  the  incompetents,  hand- 


Property  From  a  Christian]Stand point 


57 


/ 


f 


k 


< 


> 


icapped  persons,  and  dependents  of  all 
kinds  should  be  provided  for  by  the 
community  in  which  they  reside.  It 
should  not  be  considered  that  the  care 
and  maintenance  of  such  people  is  the 
duty  of  persons  inclined  to  philan- 
thropy; it  is  in  reality  a  solemn  obliga- 
tion of  the  entire  community. 

The  Ten  Commandments  undoubt- 
edly furnish  the  basis  of  all  laws,  and 
that  being  the  case,  the  people  gener- 
ally should  know  and  heed  the  injunc- 
tions which  these  commandments  so 
clearly  and  simply  set  forth.  If  this  is 
followed  by  the  majority  of  people  it 
would  render  unnecessary  the  maze  of 
man-made  laws,  which  affords  an  op- 


portunity to  advantage  the  vicious  who 
take  occasion  to  hang  their  cases  on 
sophistries  and  technicalities,  and  by 
such  means  defeat  the  very  law  enacted 
to  control  them.  In  fact,  a  change  in 
present  conditions  must  be  brought 
about  by  a  change  within  and  not  from 
without.  Laws  must  be  enacted  to 
control  and  punish  the  vicious,  but  such 
laws  should  not  work  a  hardship  on  the 
honest  and  just,  as  they  sometimes  do. 
Above  all,  we  must  endeavor  to  re- 
place envy,  hatred  and  malice  with 
tolerance  and  forbearance  in  our  deal- 
ings with  each  other.  None  of  us  can 
hope  to  be  perfect;  such  a  condition  is 
not  within  human  attainment. 


% 


An  Employer's  View  of  Property 

By  Henry  S.  Dennison 

President,  Dennison  Manufacturing  Company,  Framingham,  Massachusetts 


THE  Christian  ethic  makes  de- 
mand upon  all  men  to  act  as  if  in  a 
brotherhood.  If  this  demand  is  to  be 
granted  any  practical  meaning  it  must 
be  that  each  man's  life  is  expected  to 
deliver  its  maximum  service  towards 
the  truest  good  of  all  men.  To  ap- 
proach this  objective  each  man  must 
be  more  and  more  nearly  fitted  into  the 
place  best  suited  to  his  abilities,  and 
spurred  by  the  influences  most  appro- 
priate to  his  make-up;  and  all  men,  but 
especially  leaders,  must  have  a  more 
definite,  more  practical,  and  more  uni- 
form notion  of  what  does  actually  tend 
towards  the  truest  good  of  all. 

If  there  can  be  any  such  applied 
science  as  social  engineering,  its  ulti- 
mate objective  cannot  differ  much 
from  this  demand  of  the  Christian 
ethic.  The  problems  of  the  ownership 
and  of  the  control  of  property  are  for 
the  Christian  teacher  and  social  engi- 
neer alike  problems  of  organizing  the 
forces  and  influences  which  work  ui)on 
men  so  that  they  will  lead  towards  a 
progressively  greater  utilization  of  the 
powers  of  each  individual  for  the  deep- 
est good  of  all. 

Of  the  two  commonly  accepted  privi- 
leges attaching  to  the  ownership  of 
property,  control  of  its  use  and  owner- 
ship of  its  fruits,  the  former  can  most 
profitably  receive  the  present  focus  of 
attention.  Only  if  long  and  ingenious 
efforts  should  fail  to  modify  the  con- 
trol of  wealth  would  ownership  of  the 
fruits  of  wealth  constitute  a  problem; 
namely,  the  problem  of  the  basic  rights 
of  ownership,  so  long  debated  by  social- 
ist, communist,  and  individualist,  with 
high  passion  and  meager  profit. 

It  is  admitted  as  a  basic  theory  in  all 
democratic  communities  that  there  are 


somewhere  limits  to  the  freedom  with 
which  one  can  control  his  own  property, 
bounds  beyond  which  he  cannot  "do 
what  he  likes  with  his  own,"  though 
the  variety  of  its  definite  applications 
obscures  the  basic  unity.  Ordinarily 
we  hear  that  every  man's  right  is  to  do 
as  he  pleases  with  his  own  so  long  as  he 
does  not  interfere  with  the  rights  of 
others,  the  rights  of  others  being  of 
course  to  do  as  they  please  with  their 
own,  short  of  similar  interference.  At 
best  this  can  cover  only  the  simplest 
situations  and  can  give  no  help  where 
rights  conflict  or  where  a  democratic 
society  must  decide  to  what  extent  it 
will  guard  ownership  and  protect  its 
transfer.  A  Christian  society  which 
does  not  go  further  than  this  would  war- 
rant the  few  who  own  material  wealth 
in  withholding  it  to  the  beggary  or 
death  of  the  rest. 

The  Christian  ethic  cannot  allow  the 
use  of  property  to  the  harm  of  another. 
Can  it  approve  its  use  for  anything  less 
than  the  greatest  service  which  may  be 
practicable .f^  Doing  actual  harm  and 
withholding  good  never  differ  more 
than  in  degree  and  are  sometimes 
indistinguishable; and  if  both  Christian- 
ity and  social  engineering  demand  that 
each  must  deliver  his  maximum  service 
to  all,  the  limits  to  what  one  may  please 
to  do  must  crowd  so  close  to  his  duties 
that  we  may  as  well  say  at  once  that 
"he  may  do  what  he  ought  with  his 
own." 

Precisely  what  ought  he  to  do?  Can 
we,  who  with  diflSculty  see  ahead  twelve 
months,  who  know  little  or  nothing  of 
the  dynamics  of  our  present  structure, 
attempt  to  define  some  form  of  social 
structure  which  might  be  called  a  goal? 
It  is  out  of  all  reason.     We  can,  how- 


An  Employer's  View  of  Property 


59 


v; 


>/: 


) 


< 


^ 


ever,  see  present  imperfections,  and 
work  towards  their  elimination.  We 
can  use  property  for  greater  service 
even  when  we  cannot  yet  picture  its 
greatest  service.  We  can  choose  con- 
tinuous progress  rather  than  attain- 
ment as  the  object  of  our  striving.  If 
we  can  see  how  to  increase  the  use  of 
the  talents  and  properties  of  men  for  ' 
the  deeper  good  of  all,  or  how  to  in- 
crease the  extent  of  unselfish  purpose 
(that  store  of  energy  which  drives  us 
out  of  beastdom),  we  may  safely  leave 
detailed  drawings  of  some  future  social 
structure  to  the  Utopians. 

For  progress  must  be  recognized  as 
the  product  of  good  purpose  and  struc- 
tural improvement;  when  either  factor 
is  zero  the  product  is  zero;  when  one 
factor  is  negative,  the  result  is  negative. 
In  none  of  our  efforts  towards  the 
greater  welfare  of  man  can  this  fact  be 
forgotten.     Both   structure    and    pur- 


pose must  be  strengthened,  and,  in  a 
democratic  type  of  society,  strength- 
ened broadly  throughout  the  group. 
For  if  autocracy  can  get  a  high  degree 
of  initiative  in  the  men  at  its  top, 
democracy  finds  a  greater  total  in 
lower  degrees  throughout  its  whole 
mass. 

The  doctrine  of  brotherhood,  which 
is  implicit  in  any  belief  in  the  father- 
hood of  God,  confirms  the  tenets  of 
sound  social  engineering  in  demanding 
of  the  possessors  of  skill,  of  talent  or  of 
properties,  that  they  be  used  in  steadily 
increasing  measure  in  real  and  true 
service  to  mankind.  It  demands  of 
men  of  power  and  ability  such  a  direct- 
ing of  the  work  of  all  men  that  their 
good  services  may  increase  and  their 
good  purposes  strengthen.  It  de- 
mands of  each  man  a  continuous  broad- 
ening of  his  own  good  purposes  and 
tlieir  consecration  in  service. 


Industrial  Conditions  as  a  Community  Problem  With 
Particular  Reference  to  Child  Labor 

By  Florence  Kelley 

General  Secretary,  National  Consumers'  League 


IS  any  more  serious  problem  con- 
ceivable than  the  inability  of  a 
nation  to  protect  and  cherish  its  youth? 
Is  oiu-  nation  confronted  today  by  this 
problem?  Is  this  the  unavoidable  con- 
sequence of  the  recent  decision  of  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  that  the 
second  federal  child-labor  law  is,  like 
the  first  one,  contrary  to  the  Constitu- 
tion? One  object  of  this  article  is  to 
state  the  reasons  for  the  belief  that 
this  is  the  unavoidable  consequence  of 
this  decision,  and  to  suggest  solutions 
which,  though  partial,  may  prove  to 
be  valid  as  far  as  they  go. 

It  may  be  argued  that  the  mass  of 
American  children  are  doing  fairly  well, 
that  it  is  only  the  limited  group  of  the 
child  workers  who  suffer.  But  is  not 
hardship  consciously  and  continuously 
inflicted  ui)on  one  part  of  the  people, 
contrary  to  every  ideal  of  democracy 
and  of  modern  morality?  Especially 
when  the  victims  are  defenseless  be- 
cause they  are  both  young  and  poor? 
And  when  their  numbers  are  increasing 
with  extreme  rapidity?  And  when  the 
dangers  to  which  they  are  exposed  grow 
constantly  more  threatening? 

Need  of  Federal  Child-Labor  Laws 

When  the  Ignited  States  Supreme 
Court  held  the  first  federal  child-labor 
law  contrary  to  the  Constitution  and 
therefore  void,  children  whose  names 
had  been  listed  in  advance  were  called 
into  cotton  mills  and  tobacco  factories, 
canneries  and  glass  works,  on  that  same 
day.  They  began  to  work  on  the  follow- 
ing morning  as  their  elder  brothers  and 
sisters  had  done  before  the  law  was 
passed.  The  Supreme  Court  has  now 
held    the    second  child-labor  law  un- 


constitutional, and  again  the  young 
children  have  gone  back  to  work  in  the 
mills.  Soon  they  will  again  be  working 
in  factories,  workshops,  mines  and 
quarries.  Yet  the  arguments  in  favor  of 
the  passage  of  the  first  bill  still  hohl. 
And  every  fact  which  led  Congress  to 
pass  the  second  bill  calls,  as  urgently  as 
it  did  then,  for  the  strong  hand  of  the 
government  to  guard  equally  in  every 
part  of  the  country  the  children  who 
are  the  nation  of  tomorrow.  This 
Republic  is  One. 

In  enlightened  states,  the  decision 
makes  relatively  little  difference,  for 
there  state  laws  go  farther  than  either 
federal  measure  went.  In  general, 
however,  it  is  true  that  a  federal  mini- 
mum law  facilitates  farther  advances  in 
the  more  enlightened  states.  It  is  in 
the  less  enlightened  states  that  the 
children  suffer.  Where  mob  law  reigns, 
what  hope  is  there  for  local  enforce- 
ment of  local  child-labor  statutes,  or 
for  compulsory  education?  Where  the 
Commandment,  "Thou  shalt  not  kill," 
and  the  statute  against  murder  are 
alike  unheeded,  who  taxes  himself  to 
pay  eflScient  local  truant  oflficers  and 
high  grade  state  factory  inspectors,  to 
interrupt  children  engaged  in  earning 
wages  for  their  parents  and  creating 
profits  for  their  employers? 

The  War  told  the  story.  The  sec- 
ond federal  child-labor  law  followed 
promptly  upon  the  nullification  of  the 
first.  For  the  ugly  facts  of  our  native 
illiteracy,  our  sickly,  stunted  and  de- 
fective recruits  from  the  North  and 
South  alike  were  fresh  in  the  public 
mind,  revealed  by  the  draft. 

For  three  years,  1919-1922,  while 
federal  inspectors  enforced  the  child 


60 


Industrial  Conditions  as  a  Community  Problem 


61 


I 


/ 


)    < 


y 


labor  laws  in  Mississippi  as  in  Oregon 
and  violators  knew  that  federal  courts 
and  the  federal  Treasury  guarded  the 
children,  parents  and  older  youth  were 
in  demand  as  wage-earners.  During 
that  period  children  below  the  age  of 
fourteen  years  did  not  compete  against 
their  fathers  and  mothers  in  the  narrow 
range  of  occupations  covered  by  the 
statute. 

This  nation  cannot  plead  ignorance. 
It  knows  the  need  of  uniform  child- 
labor  legislation,  and  from  three  years' 
fresh  experience  it  knows  the  value  of 
federal  enforcement.  The  first  federal 
child-labor  law  became  effective  Sep- 
tember 1, 1917.  It  was  declared  uncon- 
stitutional June  3,  1918.  The  second 
one  became  effective  x\pr il  25,1919.  It 
was  declared  unconstitutional  May  15, 
1922,  after  being  in  force  three  years 
and  three  weeks. 

Before  attempting  to  get  a  federal 
measure,  state  laws  had  been  tried  for 
more  than  eighty  years  and  found 
wanting.^  A  crazy  quilt  of  them  al- 
most covered  the  country.  In  general 
the  better  and  more  widespread  the 
good  state  laws,  the  greater  the  in- 
justice to  the  unprotected  child  toilers 
in  the  backward  states.  How  can  a 
vast  democratic,  industrial  Republic  be 
expected  to  live,  if  its  children  are 
treated  according  to  forty-eight  dif- 
ferent standards?  In  Ohio  children  go 
to  school  to  the  fifteenth  or  sixteenth 
birthday,  helped  by  mothers'  pensions 
if  the  normal  breadwinner  is  dead  or 
disabled.  In  the  state  of  Washington 
children  are  enabled  by  the  workmen's 
compensation  law  to  continue  (to  the 
sixteenth  birthday  of  the  youngest 
member  of  the  family)  to  live  in  the 
home  that  their  breadwinner  was 
paying  for  when  he  met  death  in  his 
employment.     There     the     state,     if 

1  In  June  1882,  forty  years  ago,  the  writer  filed 
as  a  graduating  thesis  at  Cornell  University,  a 
study  of  the  Child  and  the  Law,  which  was 


necessary,  enables  the  family  to  keep 
up  the  payments,  and  collects  the  sum 
from  the  insurance  fund  of  the  em- 
ploying industry.  How  can  our  na- 
tion persist  if,  by  contrast  with  such 
provisions  as  this,  it  lets  children  in 
states  more  highly  developed  industri- 
ally than  Washington  work  ten,  eleven 
or  twelve  hours  daily,  and  if  they  are 
subjected  to  this  strain  without  sick- 
ness insurance  or  efficient  compen- 
sation laws  and  with  only  a  meager 
minimum  of  public  provision  for  their 
education? 

Without  reasonably  uniform  justice 
and  cherishing,  the  children  cannot 
thrive,  or  later  serve  the  Republic. 
For  this  the  one  indispensable  requisite 
is  a  federal  law  based  upon  an  amend- 
ment to  the  federal  Constitution.  If, 
as  interpreted  by  eight  Justices,^  the 
Coi^^titution  makes  the  federal  law 
impossible  today,  if  it  serves  as  a  pre- 
text for  restoring  young  children  to 
their  exploiters,  and  gives  federal 
sanction  to  overwork  of  older  children, 
clearly  that  Constitution,  143  years 
old,  must  be  modernized.  No  ancient 
instrument  is  sacrosanct  which  imperils 
the  nation  by  imperiling  its  youth. 
The  Constitution  adopted  in  1789  is 
older  than  the  earliest  American  textile 
mill. 

No  theory  of  the  distribution  of 
powers  of  government  is  sound,  which 
ignores  injury  to  boys  and  girls,  such  as 
the  textile,  tobacco  factories,  canneries 
and  glass  factories  have  inflicted  con- 
tinuously, except  during  the  brief 
period  of  federal  safeguarding  now 
ended  by  the  decision  of  May  15. 

Why  Does  Not  Industry  Pay  Its 
Full  Costs? 

Since  the  close  of  the  War,  in  the 
short    period    since   November    1918, 

published  in  the  International  Review.     A  part  of 
the  material  then  used  dated  back  forty  years. 
2  Mr.  Justice  Clark  dissented. 


X 


6^2 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


ours,  already  the  largest  in  volume,  has 
become  the  most  dangerous  industry  in 
the  world  through  the  exposure  of 
men,  women  and  children  to  poisons 
new  in  America.  On  an  enormous 
scale  we  have  taken  over  the  German 
poisons  (dyes  and  solvents)  without 
the  safeguards  which  the  Germans  had 
been  evolving  and  applying  step  by 
step  as  the  industry  developed.^ 

The  Women's  Division  of  the  New 
York  State  Industrial  Commission  is 
now  making  a  study  of  2997  cases  of 
compensation  paid  for  injuries  to  mi- 
nors under  eighteen  years  of  age  in  New 
York  State  in  1919.  This  study  em- 
braces only  injuries  which  have  kept  the 
person  involved  out  of  work  two  weeks 
or  longer.  It  is  indicative  of  the  pre- 
vailing Jenient  view  of  the  responsibil- 
ity of  the  industry  for  this  suffering, 
that  these  are  still  officially  called  ac- 
cidents which  should  always,  if  only  for 
the  sake  of  straight  thinking,  be  called 
injuries.  Nothing  preventable  should 
ever  be  called  an  accident. 

The  proportion  of  young  workers 
grows  with  the  evolution  of  machinery 
and  the  simplifying  of  processes,  and 
the  younger  the  workers  the  greater 
the  danger  from  both  machines  and 
poisons.^  It  is  precisely  at  the  silly, 
adventurous  age  that  the  young  work- 
ers are  allowed  by  our  statutes  to  leave 
school  and  enter  indust^y^ 

Because  the  father's  income  is  in- 
sufficient the  children  work.  In  the 
textiles  the  wage  unit  has  always  been 
the  family.  Fathers  have  never  ex- 
pected to  be  the  sole  support.  Under 
the  pressure  of  competition  the  child 
becomes  the  means  of  its  own  undoing, 
and  contributes  to  that  of  its  family. 
That  dependence  upon  the  children's 
earnings  which  was  once  the  especial 
disgrace  of  the  textile  industries  has 

1  This  change  has  been  made  widely  known  by 
the  publications  of  Alice  Hamilton  of  the  Faculty 
of  the  Harvard  Medical  School. 


spread  far  and  wide  to  other  occupa- 
tions. 

It  is  impossible  adequately  to  char- 
acterize the  sinister  significance  of  our 
having  virtually  no  compulsory  sick- 
ness insurance,  and  no  uniform  work- 
men's compensation.  It  is  a  measure 
of  the  cynicism  of  the  indifferent  public. 
It  is  an  index  of  the  absence  of  states- 
manship among  those  social  workers 
who  devote  themselves  to  repairing 
and  providing  for  the  charitable  main- 
tenance of  industrial  wrecks,  instead  of 
stimulating  industry  to  make  itself  safe 
and  healthful  by  compelling  it  to  pay 
for  its  heavy  share  of  the  disease  and 
disaster  befalling  breadwinners  whose 
withdrawal  causes  boys  and  girls  to  be- 
come wage-earners. 

The  fact  that  we  lack  such  sickness 
insurance  and  uniform  adequate  com- 
pensation is  incessantly  brought  before 
our  minds  by  the  multiplying  efforts  to 
apply  to  the  rehabilitation  of  industri- 
ally handicapped  people  the  new  skill 
and  the  broadened  resources  developed 
during  the  War.  What  is  better  ad- 
vertised than  the  widespread  effort  to 
rehabilitate  the  industrially  handi- 
capped? But  why  do  we  first  allow  in- 
dustry to  handicap  them? 

To  get  compensation,  even  where 
there  are  laws,  always  means  a  strug- 
gle. The  injured  person  is  hampered 
by  one  time-limit  within  which  the  ap- 
plication of  the  victim,  whether  himself 
the  sufferer,  or  the  survivor  of  the  killed, 
must  be  made,  and  another  (fourteen 
days  in  New  York  State)  before  which 
his  effort  cannot  begin.  If  the  disa- 
bility lasts  no  longer  than  fourteen  days 
the  burden  must  be  borne  by  the  suf- 
ferer; no  compensation  is  forthcoming. 
The  injured  is  further  hampered  by 
technicalities  in  the  presentation  of 
compensation     claims.    Rules     there 

2  See  the  series  of  articles  entitled  "  The  Iron 
Man, "  by  Arthur  Pound  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly, 
1921-1922. 


Industrial  Conditions  as  a  Community  Problem 


63 


/ 


\ 


must  be,  of  course.  But  many  existing 
ones  are  indeed  hard  to  explain  to  the 
naive  sense  of  justice  of  young  working 
people. 

There  is  even  some  danger  for  the 
workers  to  be  guarded  against  where 
mothers  who  are  entitled  to  industrial 
compensation  receive  civil  pensions. 
If  the  pension  is  granted  without  suf- 
ficient investigation,  the  negligent  em- 
ployer may  escape  without  paying  his 
fair  continuing  share  for  the  loss  of  the 
normal  breadwinner.  The  stimulus  to 
the  employing  corporation  to  make  the 

r  place  of  work  safe  is  then  lost,  and  the 

taxpayers'  contribution  to  the  welfare 
of  bereft  mothers  may  fail  to  enable 
them  to  remain  at  home  with  the  chil- 
dren. Because  the  financial  burden 
here  falls  in  the  wrong  place,  upon  the 
taxpayers  instead  of  the  recklessly  con- 
ducted industry,  we  see  families  both 
receiving  allowances  from  public  funds 
and  doing  work  in  the  home,  mother 
f  and  children  together,  for  the  sweated 
industries. 

It  is  obviously  because  they  are  poor 
that  the  mothers  are  subjected  to  this. 
If  they  were  in  a  position  to  command 
wise  advice  they  could  better  cope  v/ith 
the  difficulties  of  the  compensation 
laws  and  escape  the  clutches  of  the 
sweating  system.  Verily  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  poor  is  their  poverty!  But 
why  do  we  Americans  allow  our  in- 
dustries this  unhallowed  freedom  to 
produce   poverty   as   a   regularly   ac- 

X        cepted  by-product  of  industry? 

Where  Does  the  Trouble  Lie? 

There  is  much  painful  conflict  in  the 
public  mind.  People  who  have  faith- 
fully struggled  for  effective  child-labor 
laws  are  asking  themselves  the  question : 
Is  it  truly  the  Constitution  which  is  the 
enemy  of  the  wage-earning  children  and 
therefore  of  the  future  of  the  Republic  ? 
y-  Or  is  it  a  mere  political  theory?  Or  is 
it  the  humble  willingness  of  the  people 


to  sacrifice  the  children  to  a  cynical 
theory  of  government? 

In  general  the  trouble  seems  to  be 
twofold.  There  is  this  old  slaveholders' 
dogma  that  the  states  must  be  free  to 
make  a  nation-wide  institution  of  the 
wage  slavery  of  children  as  they  once 
attempted  to  make  chattel  slavery  na- 
tion wide.  The  second  element  seems 
to  be  our  callous  acceptance  of  the  fact 
as  inevitable  and  permanent  that, 
throughout  wide  areas  and  in  many 
forms  of  default,  industry  does  not  pay 
its  own  full  costs. 

Secretary  Hoover  recommended  to 
the  National  Conference  of  Social 
Work  at  Providence  on  June  27,  19i22, 
that  they  make  one  more  combined  ef- 
fort to  deal  with  child  labor  state  by 
state.  Then  after  another  demon- 
strable failure  a  Constitutional  amend- 
ment should  be  tried.  This  idea  is 
utterly  immoral  and  wrong.  The 
children,  according  to  this,  are  to  go 
back  to  their  slavery  while  our  nation 
makes  further  effort  to  do  the  impos- 
sible,— to  assure  to  them  the  equal 
protection  of  the  law  under  forty-eight 
divergent  legislatures.  After  it  is  con- 
clusively shown  that  they  are  again 
suffering  stupefaction  and  physical 
injury,  the  slow  task  of  amending  the 
C'onstitution  may  be  undertaken. 

Morons  are  now  authoritatively 
described  as  persons  incapable  of  learn- 
ing from  experience.  Should  we  not 
show  ourselves  to  be  a  nation  of 
morons  if,  after  eighty  years  of  effort 
which  we  definitely  abandoned  in  1906 
when  we  introduced  the  federal  child 
labor  bill  into  Congress,  we  should  now 
return  to  that  fundamentally  dis- 
credited method? 

The  time  to  save  the  working  chil- 
dren of  the  United  States  is  now. 
Underlying  everything  is  the  wanton, 
wholesale  sacrifice  of  their  bread- 
winners. For  it  is  still  the  rule  that 
fathers  maintain  their  children. 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


WTiile  we  enact  the  amendment  we 
must  strive  also  to  remove  the  evils 
sketched  above.  iVnd  may  we  be  for- 
given if  we  reiterate  the  migracious 
query:  Where  have  the  social  workers 
l^een  throughout  the  long  struggle  to 
compel  the  guarding  of  life,  limb  and 
health  in  industry?  Who  have  helped 
except  the  American  x\ssociation  for 
Labor  Legislation,  the  Consumers' 
league,  the  Child-Labor  Committee, 
and  the  labor  organizations? 

The  possibilities  of  state  regulation 
were  exhausted  before  the  federal  laws 
were  passed.  The  possibilities  of  fed- 
eral regulation  appear  to  have  been, 
for  the  present,  exliausted.     To  solve 


this  grievous  moral  problem,  what  re- 
mains is,  therefore,  to  enact  a  federal 
child-labor  amendment.  With  voting 
mothers  and  teachers  added  to  the  men 
who  elected  the  Congress  which  passed 
the  federal  child-labor  laws,  it  is  rea- 
sonable to  hope  that  the  achievement 
of  this  amendment  may  be  speedy. 

If  with  the  passage  of  time,  and  the 
unimaginable  changes  in  American  in- 
dustry since  1789,  the  Constitution  has 
become  an  obstacle  to  righteousness, 
as  it  was  once  held  to  be  the  bulwark 
of  chattel  slavery,  let  us  profit  by  the 
tragic  teaching  of  the  Civil  War,  and 
mend  our  ways  and  our  fundamental 
law  before  it  is  again  too  late. 


<i 


{...  > 


k 


The  Employers*  Responsibility  to  the  Community 

By  Sam  A.  Lewisohn 

Of  Adolph  Lewisohn  &  Sons,  New  York  City 


IN  any  discussion  of  the  employer's ^ 
relation  to  the  community,  local  or 
national,  we  must  be  careful  to  keep  in 
mind  that  he  is  part  and  parcel  of  the 
community.  His  relation  to  it  is  not 
to  something  outside  himself,  but  to 
something  of  which  he  is  an  essential 
component.  A  socially  healthy  com- 
munity, local  and  national,  reacts  upon 
liis  well-being  as  much  as  it  does  upon 
the  well-being  of  any  other  member 
of  the  community.  I  emphasize  this 
because  there  is  a  tendency  in  some 
quarters  to  regard  the  employer, 
particularly  in  his  relation  to  the  local 
community,  as  a  commanding  officer  of 
an  army  of  occupation.  His  proper 
role  is  that  of  an  influential  citizen  and 
neighbor — a  citizen  and  neighbor  pos- 
sessed of  great  power  for  good  or  evil. 
This  influence  and  power  comes  be- 
cause under  the  capitalistic  system 
executive  control  over  production  is 
decentralized,  and  at  least  to  a  large 
degree  is  disassociated  from  our  politi- 
cal system.  In  order  to  preserve  the 
initiative  and  adventuring  instinct  of 
the  individual  business  man,  it  has  been 
deemed  advisable,  particularly  in  this 
country,  not  to  impinge  upon  his  sphere 
of  power.  This  decentralization  has 
its  obvious  advantages  in  eflBciency, 
and  disadvantages  to  those  who  be- 
lieve in  carrving  democratic  tenets  to 
their  logical  conclusion.     But  it  is  un- 

^  When  I  speak  of  employer,  I  refer  either  to 
the  hierarchy  of  executives  in  a  corporation  or  to 
a  proprietor  owner.  Of  course,  in  the  case  of  a 
proprietor  owner  the  relation  to  the  local  com- 
munity is  apt  to  be  more  intimate  than  that  of  a 
large  corporation,  but  the  resident  manager  of 
a  large  corporation  can  and  often  does  act  as  a 
substitute  for  the  proprietor  owner. 

6  65 


necessary  to  discuss  the  pros  and  cons 
here. 

Public  Service 

Now  with  influence  and  power  come 
opportunity  and  responsibility — in  this 
case,  of  helping  the  particular  com- 
munity to  help  itself.  I  have  said  op- 
portunity advisedly,  for  effective  public 
service  is  always  an  opportunity.  I 
have  said  responsibility,  for  it  is  a 
definite  duty  which  cannot  be  shifted  to 
anyone  else;  a  duty  which  should  be 
regarded  not  as  a  by-product  of  the 
business  adventure,  but  as  an  integral 
part  of  that  adventure.  For  a  really 
modern-minded  employer  realizes  that 
making  money  is  only  one  part  of  his 
activity,  and  that  his  position  logically 
includes  the  responsibility  of  develop- 
ing and  leading  both  his  internal  or- 
ganization and  that  portion  of  the 
community  with  which  he  comes  into 
contact.  It  is  the  old  story  that 
"charity  begins  at  home,"  only  charity 
is,  to  say  the  least,  an  inappropriate 
term.  As  Mr.  Glenn  Frank  puts  it, 
"Statesmanship  in  business  has  come 
to  be  adjudged  worthier  of  a  real  man's 
mettle  than  philanthropy  outside  busi- 
ness." I  am  thinking  of  the  story  re- 
lated by  a  liberal  English  employer. 
He  tried  to  convert  a  fellow  employer 
to  his  point  of  view  in  relation  to  these 
matters.  The  answer  was  "Well, 
you've  got  your  hobbies  and  I  have 
mine."  Employers  must  be  made  to 
realize  that  attention  to  these  matters 
is  not  a  fad  but  a  natural  element  in 
their  careers  as  employers.  There  is 
little  to  be  said  for  the  theory  advanced 
by  negligent  employers  on  one  hand, 
or  by  some  radical  doctrinaires  on  the 


I- 


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Employers'  Responsibility  to  Community 


67 


other,  that  a  policy  of  "hands  off" 
everything  which  concerns  employees 
after  factory  hours  is  desirable  or 
possible. 

Building  a  Community 
It  is  unnecessary  to  go  into  a  detailed 
statement  of  the  specific  problems 
which  face  each  employer.  The  main 
thing  is  the  spirit  in  which  the  problem 
is  approached.  If  the  particular  in- 
dustry is  located  in  a  community  that 
is  already  well  developed  the  task  of 
the  employer  is  relatively  easy.  His 
relation  to  it  is  then  that  of  any  other 
influential  citizen,  that  of  helping  to 
develop  what  has  already  been  es- 
tablished and  of  acting  as  a  leader.  On 
the  other  hand,  where  an  industry  is 
located  in  an  isolated  region,  the  em- 
ployer has  the  task  of  building  a 
healthy  community  from  the  ground 

up. 

To  suggest  some  of  the  concrete 
duties  there  is  first,  that  of  seeing  that 
in  some  manner  proper  housing  facili- 
ties are  developed;  second,  to  see  that 
some  center,  such  as  a  club  or  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
is  provided  for  social  life,  and  to  do 
everything  else  that  is  possible  to 
promote  a  healthy  social  life;  third,  to 
see  that  educational  facilities  are  ade- 
quate, including  facilities  for  adult 
education,  particularly  in  connection 
w4th  the  teaching  of  English  to  the 
foreign-born;  fourth,  to  see  that  the 
town  is  provided  with  adequate  munic- 
ipal facilities  such  as  streets,  sewers, 
etc.;  fifth,  in  some  cases  to  provide 
cooperative  stores. 

In  any  commimity  developed  or  un- 
developed the  situation  requires  a 
particularly  high  degree  of  tact,  for  it  is 
very  easy  to  have  a  desire  to  serve  the 
community  appear  to  the  community 
like  a  desire  to  patronize  and  dominate. 
If  there  is  any  one  thing  an  employer 
must  remember  it  is  that  just  because 
of  his  position  of  power  and  influence 


he  must  be  tactful.  If  I  were  to  add  a 
commandment  particularly  applicable 
to  employers  it  would  be  '*Thou  must 

be  tactful." 

Some  employers  take  a  paternalistic 
Lady-Bountiful  point  of  view.     Often 
it  is  the  very  same  employer  that  talks 
about  the  necessity  of  a  "sturdy  indi- 
vidualism."    I  have  in  mind  one  very 
well  meant  experiment  in  this  direction. 
The  company  in  question  bought  up 
the  particular  town  in  which  they  were 
operating  and  built  quite  a  remarkable 
and  beautiful  town  from  an  architec- 
tural point  of  view;  but  there  was  some- 
thing about  the  way  in  which  the  town 
was    conducted    which    made    every 
individual  in  that  town  feel  that  he 
was  a  minion  of  the  powers  that  be. 
For  all  their  trouble  instead  of  a  well- 
satisfied  community  the  employers  had 
created  a  dissatisfied  conmmnity.     If 
employers  would  only  exercise  a  little 
imagination  and  cultivate  a  sense  of 
humor  they  would  steer  clear  of  assum- 
ing the  role  of  feudal  lords.     Let  them 
put  themselves  in  the  position  of  the 
men  under  them;  let  them  think  how 
they  would  feel  if  their  positions  were 
reversed;  let  them  think  of  their  youth 
and  their  resentment  at  any  interfer- 
ence with  their  independence,  and  they 
will  realize  how  delicate  are  their  rela- 
tions to  the  community. 

In  other  cases  it  is  not  so  much  a 
matter  of  patronization  as  that  of  bad 
judgment.  A  Y.  M.  C.  A.  was  built  in 
a  community  in  which  several  employ- 
ers were  located  and  in  which  the 
majority  of  the  employees  were  Roman 
Catholics.  Naturally  it  was  not  well 
patronized.  An  industrial  club  in  this 
instance  would  have  been  much  better. 
In  this  particular  instance  the  lack  of 
judgment  was  self-evident.  I  cite  it  to 
indicate  that  each  situation  must  be 
studied  separately.  This  is  in  no  way 
to  disparage  the  work  of  the  Industrial 
Y.  M.  C.  A.     In  fact  it  has  a  distinct 


> 


/' 


k 


advantage — that  of  not  being  under 
company  control  and  of  being  demo- 
cratically administered.  A  Y.M.C.A. 
is  therefore  usually  much  more  effective 
than  a  company-built  club,  particularly 
in  a  town  in  which  only  one  industry  is 
located.  For  no  matter  how  much  a 
company  tries  to  keep  its  hands  off, 
there  is  always  the  suspicion  of  com- 
pany control. 

Housing  Facilities 

The  question  of  housing,  of  course,  is 
a  very  difficult  one.  Company-owned 
houses  have  their  obvious  disadvan- 
tages. On  the  other  hand,  to  leave 
the  problem  of  housing  to  outside  in- 
fluences is  often  obviously  ill-advised, 
and  to  ask  an  employee  to  own  his  own 
house  is  often  an  injustice  for  various 
reasons.  TOiere  it  is  feasible  some 
scheme  of  copartnership  housing  should 
be  installed  so  that  the  employees  have 
the  benefit  on  the  one  hand  of  the 
feeling  of  ownership  and  at  the  same 
time  know  that  their  ownership  is  of 
such  an  elastic  nature  that  they  can 
quickly  dispose  of  their  holdings. 
Where  it  is  necessary  to  have  the  com- 
pany build  its  own  houses  for  the  com- 
munity the  situation  should  be  handled 
in  such  a  way  that  there  is  no  suspicion 
of  patronization. 

The  specific  facilities  are  not  as  im- 
portant as  the  spirit  in  which  the  em- 
ployer acts.  It  is  human  nature, 
particularly  in  a  democratic  country, 
to  prefer  inadequate  facilities  where  we 
feel  free  from  the  taint  of  patronization 
to  adequate  facilities  which  we  procure 
at  the  cost  of  being  patronized.  Nor- 
mal human  beings  do  not  want  things 
done  for  them.  What  they  desire  is  an 
opportunity  to  do  things  for  them- 
selves. In  connection  with  adult  edu- 
cation particularly,  care  must  be  taken, 
as  has  so  often  been  pointed  out,  that 
so-called  Americanization  work  is  not 
conducted  in  a  manner  to  build  up 


resistances.  If  properly  led,  foreign- 
born  groups  will  take  care  of  themselves. 
Anything  that  suggests  discredited 
"welfare"  methods  should  be  avoided. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the 
relation  of  the  employer  to  his  internal 
organization  but  it  is  of  course  patent 
that  the  end  in  view — a  democratic 
upstanding  local  community — cannot 
be  developed  unless  the  internal  condi- 
tions of  the  particular  industry  are 
sound.  xVdequate  wages,  or  at  least  as 
adequate  as  possible,  reasonable  hours 
of  work,  a  certain  amount  of  security,  a 
voice  in  determining  wages  and  work- 
ing conditions  through  works  councils 
or  conference  committees,  proper  up- 
grading and  training  systems  which 
serve  to  make  the  job  a  career,  modern 
and  well-worked-out  personnel  admin- 
istration, in  short,  everything  that  goes 
to  make  for  esprit  de  corps  reflects  itself 
in  the  life  of  the  particular  community 
in  which  the  industrv  is  located.  Wliat 
the  relation  to  trade-unionism  should 
be  depends  upon  the  particular  cir- 
cumstances. This  is  not  the  place  for 
an  extended  discussion  of  this  question. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  employers  should 
approach  this  question  in  an  unbiased, 
open-minded  spirit,  which,  unfortu- 
nately, too  many  of  them  have 
lacked. 

Thus  far  we  have  discussed  the  op- 
portunities of  constructive  leadership 
that  are  afforded  to  employers,  the 
chance  to  do  big  things  in  improving 
the  social  fabric.  This  is  the  side  of 
the  relations  of  the  employer  to  a  com- 
munity that  I  would  like  to  stress. 
But  there  is  another  side  to  these  rela- 
tions which  must  be  viewed,  and  that 
is  those  things  which  the  employer 
must  not  do. 

Respect  for  Individual  Rights 

Just  because  the  employer  has  power 
and  influence  which  are  extra-political, 
he  must  be  scrupulous  not  to  exercise  it 


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so  as  to  iini)ingc  upon  the  political 
rights  of  the  individual.  As  an  Anglo- 
Saxon  nation  we  are  jealous  of  these 
rights.  In  the  interests  of  efficiency 
we  have  given  a  grant  of  power  to  the 
individual  })roducer  and  adopted  a 
more  or  less  laissez-faire  policy.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  are  determined 
that  efficiency  does  not  go  so  far  as  to 
endanger  the  political  rights  of  the 
indivi(hial.  In  using  the  term  "politi- 
cal rights"  I  include,  of  course,  tlie 
right  to  join  and  assist  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  trade  unions.  It  is  essential 
that  not  only  must  these  rights  l^e 
preserved  but  tliere  must  not  even  be  a 
remote  feeling  that  there  is  any  tend- 
encv  to  coerce  or  dominate.  This 
principle  is  particularly  true  of  the  rehi- 
tion  of  the  employer  to  the  local  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  larger  community. 
I  am  not  here  referring  to  gross  viola- 
tions of  these  rights  involving  the  use 
of  physical  coercion.  Nor  am  I  refer- 
ring to  any  attempt  to  interfere  with 
free  speech  or  free  assemblage  by  the 
improper  use  of  local  authority.  It 
seems  superfluous  to  comment  on  such 
flagrant  and  indecent  transgressions  of 
the  spirit  and  the  letter  of  our  institu- 
tions. Aside  from  its  inherent  vicious- 
ness,  the  instigation  or  countenancmg 
of  such  methods  on  the  part  of  men  suj)- 
posed  to  be  leaders,  lays  the  foundation 
for  general  disregard  of  law  and  order. 
In  spite  of  the  wide  publicity  they  re- 
ceive, such  violations  are,  I  think,  rare 
in  proportion  to  the  great  bulk  of  oiu* 
industrial  activity.  I  am  referring  to 
more  subtle  and  indirect  infractions. 

Closely  akin  to  this  duty  of  employ- 
ers not  to  encroach  upon  the  political 
rights  of  the  individual  is  their  duty  not 
to  infringe  on  the  social  freedom  of  a 
community  or  of  their  employees.  It 
is  of  course  perfectly  proper  for  an  em- 
ployer, and  in  fact  his  duty,  to  exercise 
his  influence  in  an  open  manner  and 
to  attempt  to  create  a  common-sense 


point  of  view  in  various  matters.  A 
"hands-off"  policy  is  undesirable  as 
I  have  indicated  above.  He  must  be 
careful,  however,  not  to  create  the 
impression  that  he  is  trying  to  take 
advantage  of  his  position. 

As  a  business  man,  I  realize  the 
difficulties  that  must  be  faced  by  any 
enterprise  in  its  relation  to  the  local 
conmumity.  There  are  often  demagogic 
and  other  influences  which  attempt 
to  stir  up  trouble  for  an  undertaking 
that  has  every  right  to  be  protected, 
but  the  fact  that  there  are  difficulties 
to  be  faced  is  no  reason  for  acting  in  a 
tactless,  arrogant  spirit.  Any  modern 
employer  conscious  of  the  spirit  of  the 
times — conscious  that  feudalism  is  a 
thing  of  the  past — will  be  able  to  act  as 
a  real  leader  of  affairs  in  his  community. 
If  the  communitv  once  realizes  that  no 
attempt  at  paternalism  is  made,  it  is 
comparatively  easy  to  obtain  its  re- 
spect and  loyalty. 

And  here  let  me  suggest  that  the 
deleterious  effect  of  capitalistic  ex- 
ploitation as  such,  upon  individual  and 
social  life,  is  largely  a  figment  of  the 
imagination  of  those  who  have  stressed 
this  view.  Even  where  conditions  are 
unfavorable  and  the  management  has 
been  harsh  and  unprogressive,  life  in  a 
backward  farming  community  is  raised 
by  the  introduction  of  industry.  I 
have  one  particular  incident  in  mind 
where  a  "hill-billy"  from  a  West 
Virginia  town  where  abuses  of  various 
kinds  existed,  even  though  he  com- 
plained of  the  unfair  methods  used  by 
the  employing  groups,  testified  to  the 
great  improvement  to  his  personal 
development  that  had  been  brought 
about  by  the  opportunity  afforded  him. 

In  any  event,  where  the  management 
has  been  progressive  and  alive  to  its 
opportunity  for  leadership,  the  stand- 
ard of  the  community  is  often  raised  to 
a  very  marked  degree.  As  a  graphic 
example  I   might   mention  a  certain 


Employers'  Responsibility  to  Community 


69 


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community  which  has  been  established 
in  a  locality  where  there  was  formerly 
only  very  sparse  farming.  The  entire 
commimity  has  been  developed  and 
improved  socially  and  morally.  This 
particular  industry  from  the  beginning 
has  only  paid  about  3  per  cent  on 
capital  to  the  stockholders  but  has 
paid  $22,000,000  in  wages  over  a 
period  of  22  years.  In  this  particular 
community  there  has  been  built  up  a 
real  feeling  of  loyalty  to  the  company 
but  the  relation  is  not  a  feudal  one. 
There  has  been  no  suspicion  of  patroni- 
zation.  The  company  has  been  care- 
ful to  respect  the  sensibilities,  social, 
political  and  otherwise,  of  the  people 
in  the  community.  The  result  is  an 
upstanding  community  and  a  sound 
situation  for  the  company  generally. 


To  sum  up  the  preceding  discussion, 
the  relation  of  the  employer  to  the 
community  is  of  a  dual  nature.  There 
is  an  aflSrmative  side  in  the  opportunity 
afforded  of  acting  as  a  center  of  activity 
in  the  moral,  social  and  cultural 
development  of  the  country.  There  is 
a  negative  side  in  the  obligation  not 
to  use  the  power  inherent  in  his  po- 
sition so  as  to  encroach  upon  the 
sphere  of  political  rights  of  the  indi- 
vidual. In  both  phases  the  exercise  of 
tact  and  imagination  is  an  essential 
element. 

Unfortunately  there  are  far  too  few 
employers  who  follow  these  principles, 
though  it  is  impossible  to  make  a 
quantitative  estimate.  What  we  need 
here,  as  elsewhere,  is  a  process  of  em- 
I)loyers'  education. 


Labor's  Responsibility  to  the  Community 

By  Rev.  Joseph  Husslein,  S.  J.,  Ph.D. 

Associate  Editor,  America 


PR0:M0TI0N  of  the  common  wel- 
fare is  equally  the  duty  of  all 
classes  of  society.  "Each  for  all  and 
all  for  each"  is  the  only  acceptable 
ideal  for  any  conmionwealth.  All  just 
rights,  whether  of  individuals,  private 
groups,  or  the  community,  are  sacredly 
to  be  guarded;  yet  in  every  clash  of 
economic  interests  those  of  a  merely 
private  nature  must  invariably  yield 
to  the  demands  of  the  common  good. 
Such  are  the  first  principles  of  social 
life  on  whose  recognition  human  wel- 
fare depends. 

There  is  clearly  no  difference  in  the 
binding  force  of  these  principles  as  they 
apply  to  capital  and  labor.  Yet  in 
each  case  they  carry  with  them  a  dis- 
tinctly different  group  of  responsibil- 
ities. Those  only  which  concern  la- 
bor's relations  towards  the  community 
are  under  discussion  in  this  article. 
It  is  not  possible,  however,  to  treat  of 
these  without  occasional  reference  to 
the  collateral  responsibilities  of  capital. 
Together  they  are  like  woof  and 
thread  of  one  fabric. 

To  the  observer  acquainted  with  the 
almost  invariable  indifference  displayed 
in  our  day  by  capital  and  labor  alike 
towards  the  common  welfare,  when 
I)ersonal  or  group  interests  come 
strongly  into  play,  the  social  code  set 
at  the  head  of  this  article  may  appear 
more  idealistic  than  practicable.  It 
can  readily  be  admitted  that  such  will, 
indeed,  be  the  case  so  long  as  religion 
is  left  out  of  count.  To  attempt  to 
reconstruct  society  upon  any  other 
foundation  than  that  which  God 
Himself  has  given  can  end  only  in  the 
erection  of  social  and  industrial  Babels. 
Reason  and  experience  teach  us  this. 


Higher  sanctions  are  required  than 
sociology  and  legislation  alone  can 
afford. 

The  Medieval  Guilds 

Yet  that  the  observance  of  the  code 
I  have  outlined  is  not  impossible  can 
readily  be  made  clear  from  a  brief  con- 
sideration of  the  medieval  guilds  which 
are  now  attracting  the  attention  of 
social  students  throughout  the  world. 
They  are  doubtless  the  best  instances 
of  labor's  fulfilment  of  its  responsi- 
bilities to  the  community.  A  short 
description  of  them  from  this  point  of 
view  may  serve  as  the  best  introduc- 
tion to  our  subject. 

In  carefully  studying  the  statutes  of 
a   vast   number   of   medieval    guilds, 
nothing  impressed  me  more  strikingly 
than     the    paramount     consideration 
everywhere    given    by    them    to    the 
public  good,  and  the  constant  subor- 
dination to  this  of  both  personal  and 
group   interests   on   the   part   of   the 
guildsmen.     These  workers  were  not 
merely  producers.     They  both  made 
and  sold  their  products.     The  inex- 
orable elimination  of  the  middlemen, 
wherever  possible,   was  only  part  of 
their  wisely  premeditated  plan  to  pre- 
vent high  prices  and  preserve  for  the 
worker    a    reasonable    remuneration. 
Similar  restrictions,  successfully  con- 
fining   the    expansion    of    individual 
manufacturers  to  the  limits  prescribed 
by  the  common  good  at  that  stage  of 
industrial  development,  made  private 
ownership  possible  for  every  craftsman 
who  by  training,  character,  and  thrift, 
proved  himself  worthy.     By  this  vi- 
sion and  foresight  the  medieval  crafts- 
man served  both  his  own  interests  and 


70 


Labor's  Responsibility  to  the  Community 


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those  of  the  community.  With 
changed  industrial  conditions,  new 
applications,  it  is  clear,  must  be  made 
of  the  same  unchanging  principles. 
The  purpose  of  -the  giiildsmen  was 
always  the  w^idest  diffusion  of  private 
property  and  industrial  control,  to- 
gether with  the  best  service  of  the 
public. 

Responsibility  towards  the  commu- 
nity w^is  further  manifested  by  these 
guilds  of  craftsmen  in  their  scientific 
systems  of  relief  and  prevention,  in  the 
hygienic  regulations  often  drawn  up  by 
them,  in  the  methods  of  avoiding  the 
modern  plague  of  unemployment,  in 
the  building  of  bridges  and  the  repair- 
ing of  roads,  in  the  promotion  of  mu- 
nicipal, charitative,  educational  and 
religious  enterprises  of  every  kind.  It 
was  manifested  even  more  strikingly 
in  their  insistence  upon  just  prices,  the 
rightful  adjustment  of  wages,  the 
proper  protection  and  training  ac- 
corded to  apprentices,  and  the  exam- 
ination of  tools  and  prevention  of 
night  work  that  no  defective  wares 
might  be  offered  the  consumer. 

Yet  in  all  these  regulations,  ap- 
proved b}^  public  authorities  and 
firmly  enforced  by  the  guild  courts  and 
officials,  these  workers  seemed  mainly 
concerned  with  placing  restrictions 
upon  themselves  in  the  interest  of  the 
community.  They  possessed  the  in- 
telligence to  understand  that  after  all 
they  themselves  constituted  the  bulk 
of  the  community,  and  that  in  safe- 
guarding just  prices,  fair  wages,  true 
weights,  measures,  and  qualities  of 
goods  they  were  ultimately  promoting 
their  own  interests.  The  dominant 
question  never  was  "How  much  can 
we  safely  demand.^"  or  "How  little 
can  we  give  for  what  we  receive?" 
They  rather  searched  their  consciences 
to  ascertain  what  they  might  consider 
a  just,  but  also  a  sufficient  remunera- 
tion for  their  labor,  and  what  amount 


and  quality  of  service  the  public 
should  rightly  be  accorded  in  return. 
Like  all  things  human,  the  guilds 
had  their  faults  and  shortcomings, 
their  centuries  of  high  achievement 
and  their  stages  of  gradual  decline. 
Yet  such  as  here  described  were  the 
ideals  they  sought  to  follow  in  their 
long  period  of  splendid  development 
based  on  Christian  principles.  Offenses 
against  the  common  \\'elfare  and  la- 
bor's responsibility  to  the  community 
were  even  then  committed,  but  they 
were  promptly  punished  by  the  guild 
itself,  and  no  false  class  or  group  con- 
sciousness was  permitted  to  shield  tlie 
offender.  This  was  true  so  long  as 
their  religion  remained  the  inspiration 
of  the  guildsmen. 

Application    of    Guild    Principles 
TO  Labor  Today 

"All  this  is  well,"  a  laborer  may 
perhaps  reply,  "but  we,  unfortunately, 
have  fallen  upon  other  days.  You  are 
picturing  the  period  of  brotherhood 
and  medievalism.  We  are  living  in 
the  iron  age  of  capitalism  and  the 
machine.  We  are  organizing  and  fight- 
ing for  our  rights  in  a  jungle  war  where 
religion  does  not  count,  but  tlie  dollar 
is  almighty.  The  iron  heel  of  an 
industrial  czarship  is  set  upon  the  neck 
of  labor  unionism  itself.  In  those 
earlier  days  there  w^as  joy  in  labor. 
Men  had  hopes  that  might  in  time  be 
realized.  But  what  are  we  save  the 
dull  slaves  of  the  machine  in  an  age 
that  thinks  of  nothing  but  dividends, 
and  reinvestments,  and  still  greater 
dividends?" 

All  this  sounds  plausible  and  in  a 
measure  is  but  too  true.  And  yet  the 
same  high  principles  can  be  followed  by 
labor  today,  and  hopes  not  unworthy 
of  its  dignity  can  be  realized  even  in 
our  age  of  large  scale  industry  and 
mammoth  enterprises.  But  in  seek- 
ing to  achieve  its  highest  aims  let  labor 


72 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


never  shirk  its  responsibilities  to  the 
comniiinity.  It  is  true  in  many  ways 
that  men  must  find  their  lives  by  losing 
them,  even  as  did  the  medieval  guilds- 
men.  So  far  from  wishing  to  restrict 
the  guilds,  municipalities  not  seldom 
eagerly  promoted  or  even  demanded 
them.  For  in  the  best  days  of  guild- 
hood  these  organizations  were  a  surety 
of  honest  treatment.  Today,  labor's 
full  compliance  with  all  its  obligations 
to  the  community  will  be  no  less  the 
safeguard  of  labor  unionism,  even  as 
the  scandals  of  a  few  disreputable 
leaders  or  lawless  members,  allowed 
to  go  unpunished  by  organized  labor 
or  even  perhaps  defended  by  it,  bring 
disgrace  and  possible  failure  to  the 
entire  cause. 

Labor's    Responsibilities    to    the 
Community 

But  what  are  labor's  responsibilities 
to  the  community?  Let  us  briefly 
consider  them  as  they  come  to  mind. 

Fidelity  to  pledges. — The  first  to  sug- 
gest itself  is  inviolable  fidelity  to  its 
pledged  word  as  given  imder  no 
wrongful  social  compulsion.  Every 
trouble  that  arises  out  of  dishonesty 
or  any  other  offense,  on  the  part  either 
of  labor  or  capital,  is  likely  to  cause 
inexcusable  harm  and  suffering  to  the 
community.  In  its  violation  of  pledges 
capital  has  often  sinned  shamelessly 
and  scandalously.  We  have  still  fresh 
in  mind  the  broken  pledge  of  the  coal 
operators  and  their  pitifully  specious 
excuses.  But  labor  too  has  its  own 
sad  record.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to 
balance  these  transgressions,  but  they 
rightly  alienate  public  sentiment.  Un- 
reasonable as  it  is,  I  have  known  men 
to  be  prejudiced  against  the  entire 
organized  labor  movement  owing  to 
broken  contracts  on  labor's  part, 
apparently  overlooking  the  monu- 
mental offenses  of  capital. 

Moderate  demands. — In   the  second 


placCj  responsibility  to  the  community 
implies  that  labor's  demands  be  kept 
strictly  conformable  to  the  public 
good,  whether  there  be  question  of 
wages,  hours  of  work,  or  other  subjects 
of  industrial  dispute.  Again  let  us 
hasten  to  admit  that  the  great  incen- 
tives to  excessive  demands  are  the 
robber  methods  of  so  many  trusts  and 
corporations,  the  enormous  gains  ex- 
pressed through  highly  watered  stocks 
and  unjust  prices,  the  greed  for  inter- 
minable dividends,  the  exploitation  of 
the  people  by  cliques  of  unconscionable 
bankers  in  control  of  some  of  the 
country's  most  necessary  services,  and 
the  unearned  income  often  spent  in 
luxury.  Says  a  writer  in  a  Socialist 
publication: 

So  long  as  human  parasites  enjoy  huge 
unearned  incomes  no  demand  put  forth  by  a 
group  of  producers  can  be  considered  ex- 
cessive. If  the  locomotive  engineers  of 
America,  for  instance,  should  demand  a 
yearly  wage  of  $100,000  they  would  have  an 
infinitely  better  moral  title  to  this  sum  than 
the  young  tailor's  models  who  stroll  about 
the  streets  of  New  York  and  supply  copy  to 
harassed  fashion  editors. 

To  grow  indignant  at  labor's  exces- 
sive demands,  when  such  may  be 
made,  and  ignore  the  excessive  gains 
and  violations  of  stewardship  on  the 
part  of  capital,  is  morally  dishonest. 
Yet  all  employers  are  not  unjust  and 
all  profits  are  not  excessive,  while  the 
exploitation  of  the  public  that  is 
certainly  practiced  often  enough  by 
capital  cannot  justify  an  equal  ex- 
ploitation of  the  same  suffering  public 
by  such  sections  of  labor  as  may  find 
themselves  in  a  situation  to  prey  upon 
their  fellows.  It  is  the  public,  let  us 
understand,  which  must  pay  the  ulti- 
mate cost  of  the  excessive  demands, 
whether  of  capital  or  labor,  or  both 
combined,  and  the  public  signifies 
mainly  the  great  body  of  workers  and 
their  families.     The  excessive  wages  of 


Labor's  Responsibility  to  the  Community 


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one  group  of  workers  are  finally  drawn 
from  the  purses  of  the  economically 
weaker  groups.  Labor  cannot  correct 
our  economic  abuses  by  becoming  a 
party  to  them.  Until  we  can  bring 
about  a  more  reasonable  system  than 
the  present,  a  system  of  cooperation 
based  on  the  widest  diffusion  of  private 
property,  both  consumptive  and  pro- 
ducti^  e,  let  us  by  all  means  do  all  we 
can  to  restrict  the  usurious  gains  of 
those  capitalistic  interests  that  act 
without  conscience  or  remorse,  but, 
while  doing  so,  let  Christian  capitalists 
and  laborers  keep  their  own  escutcheon 
white.  There  is  a  just  ethical  wage, 
which  does  not  exceed  what  an  indus- 
try can  bear,  as  there  is  a  just  ethical 
price. 

What  is  true  of  excessive  wages  is 
equally  true  of  unreasonable  demands 
regarding  hours  or  conditions  of  labor. 
Well-meaning  employers  are  often 
harassed  to  death  by  the  silly  and 
tyrannous  exactions  of  labor  organiza- 
tions or  business  agents.  Reputable 
business  men  are  damaged  regardlessly 
because  unions  quarrel  among  them- 
selves. Output  is  scientifically  re- 
stricted to  the  extent  at  times  of 
driving  honest  contractors  into  bank- 
ruptcy. Conscientious  workers  are 
forced  to  slacken  the  services  they  are 
but  justly  rendering.  By  the  latter 
practices  the  public  is  no  less  surely 
defrauded  than  by  the  most  shameless 
methods  of  stock-watering,  since  in 
either  case  the  community  must  pay 
for  what  was  never  given  to  it.  What 
matter  whether  there  is  question  of 
capital-stock  or  labor-stock,  of  draw- 
ing profits  or  wages. 5^  In  either  case, 
no  equivalent  is  given  for  the  money 
exacted  from  the  long-suffering  public. 

Just  cause  for  strikes. — In  the  next 
place  let  me  call  attention  to  the 
question  of  strikes.  No  one  can  deny 
to  labor  the  right  to  strike  any  more 
than    the    right    to    unionize.    Both 


must  be  firmly  maintained  by  CAcryone 
who  has  a  sense  of  democratic  freedom 
and  of  Christian  liberty.  It  is  not 
the  weapon  of  the  strike,  but  its  un- 
warranted or  wrongful  use  that  con- 
stitutes a  violation  of  labor's  responsi- 
bility to  the  community.  I  may  be 
pardoned  for  briefly  quoting  from  my 
volume  on  Democratic  Industry  y 
(p.  354),  the  ethical  principles  regard- 
ing the  ordinary  strike  or  lockout. 

Strikes  are  permitted  for  a  grave  and 
just  cause,  when  there  is  a  hope  of  success 
and  no  other  satisfactory  solution  can  be 
found,  when  justice  and  charity  are  pre- 
served, and  the  rights  of  the  public  duly 
respected.  Conciliation,  arbitration  and 
trade  agreements  are  the  natural  means  to 
be  suggested  in  their  stead.  Hence  the 
utility  of  public  boards  for  this  purpose. 
As  in  the  strike  so  in  the  lockout,  a  serious 
and  just  cause  is  required,  and  the  rights  of 
the  workers  and  of  the  public  must  be  re- 
spected. Charity  is  far  more  readily  vio- 
lated in  the  lockout  than  in  the  strike,  be- 
cause of  the  greater  suffering  likely  to  be 
inflicted  on  the  laborer  deprived  of  his  work 
than  on  the  employer. 

The  immense  suffering  likely  to 
result  both  for  the  workers  and  the 
community  from  the  symjiathetic 
strike,  and  the  injustice  that  may  be 
done  to  innocent  employers,  make 
clear  the  care  with  which  moral 
principles  must  be  consulted  before 
taking  recourse  to  such  a  measure. 
The  subject,  so  profoundly  involving 
the  interests  of  the  community,  is 
too  complicated  to  be  entered  upon 
here.  For  a  discussion  of  it,  I  may 
refer  to  McLean's  {The  Morality  of  the 
Strike)  or  to  my  own  chapter  upon  it 
in  The  World  Problem. 

There  is  much  more  that  might  here 
be  said  upon  such  intensely  vital 
questions  as  the  limitation  of  ap- 
prentices, the  closed  union  as  well  as 
the  closed  shop,  when  admission  is 
made  miduly  diflficult,  the  extension 


I,' 


I 


74 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


on  the  other  hand  of  union  privileges 
to    the    unqualified,    and    an    endless 
series  of  such  like  problems  in  which 
the  public  welfare  no  less  than  personal 
rights  of  individuals  are  at  stake.    But 
the  principles  already  laid  down  must 
suffice.     The  laws  of  Christian  charity 
and  of  social  justice  must  be  observed 
no  matter  what  may  be  the  provocation. 
Choice  of  leaders.— From  all  that  has 
been  said  one  thing  stands  out  clearly. 
It  can  no  more  be  overlooked  than  a 
mountain  promontory  blazing  in  the 
noonday     sun.     It    is    the     supreme 
responsibility    of     labor     in     making 
choice   of  its  leaders.     The   union   is 
confronted  here  with  a  social  no  less 
than    a    personal    responsibility.     Its 
*' business  agents"  must  be  worthy  of 
the  enormous  trust  confided  to  them, 
and  its  high  officials  more  than  self- 
seeking  politicians.     Not  merely  have 
the   former   often   proved   themselves 
morally  unfit,  while  some  few  of  the 
latter  have  even  been  outright  crim- 
inals,   but    in    spite    of    the    jail-bird 
character  of  such  men,  they  not  seldom 
counted   a   large   following   and   were 
strongly   intrenched   in   their   unions. 
'*Big  Tim"  Murphy  of  Chicago,  ar- 
rested  and   indicted   scores  of  times, 
and  sentenced  for  complicity  in  mail 
robbery,  was  still  thought  good  enough 
to  retain  his  position  as  president  of 
the   gas  workers'   union.     Similar  in- 
stances might  be  multiplied,  and  worst 
of  all,  capital  itself  has  set  its  hired 
spies  within  the  unions.     These  men 
invariably  seek  for  positions  of  leader- 
ship that  they  may  the  more  effectually 
play  their  Judas'  part  and  demoralize 
the'  labor  movement.     No  one  regrets 
such  conditions  more  than  the  honest 
laborer,    but    regrets    cannot    suffice. 
They  will  not  correct  the  evil,  which 
is  a  public  menace  wherever  it  exists. 
In  this  same  connection,  let  it  be 
firmly   said   that   there   is   too   much 
condonation  of  lawlessness.     I  have  a 


right  to  say  this,  since  no  one  has  more 
carefully  pointed  out  than  I  have  done 
in  repeated  articles  the  unfairness  dis- 
played  towards  labor   unions   in   the 
charges   of   violence   brought   against 
them,  and  the  false  judgments  passed 
upon  them  by  the  public.     Yet  it  is  a 
fact,    for    instance,    that    even    after 
those  murderous  crimes  committed  by 
the  McNamaras  had  been  openly  con- 
fessed and  punished,  the  Indianapolis 
Iron  Workers'  Union  cast  the  robe  of 
sanctity  around  them  by  proclaiming 
that  "Brother  (John  J.)  McNamara 
has   been   for   years   and   still   is   an 
honored  member''  of  their  organization, 
while  it  pledged  to  him  and  the  other 
** imprisoned    brothers"    its    "loyalty 

and  support." 

Cooperation.— Willie   much  remains 
to  be  said,  let  it  suffice  to  point  out  in 
conclusion    labor's    great    possibility 
of  rendering  one  of  the  most  valuable 
of  all  its  services  to  the  community 
by  an  intelligent  support  and  promo- 
tion of  cooperation.     In  this  movement 
labor  is  fortunately  taking  an  increas- 
ing interest.     Many  hundreds  of  mil- 
lions  of   dollars   are   yearly   handled, 
wisely  and  conscientiously,  by  labor's 
most  carefully  selected  representatives 
in  the  British  consumers'  cooperatives. 
Similar  developments  are  taking  place 
in  other  countries.     In  America,  too, 
cooperative  enterprises  of  every  kind 
are  daily  increasing  in  number  and 
prosperity,   although   due   discrimina- 
tion has  not  always  been  exercised. 

The  cooperative  movement  is  strict- 
ly a  workingmen's  undertaking.  In 
its  nature  it  is  not  remotely  connected 
with  socialism  or  Red  radicalism, 
though  these  may  seek  to  control  it. 
Like  the  medieval  guilds,  whose  near- 
est analogy  it  is,  true  cooperation  is 
based  upon  private  ownership  by  the 
many  instead  of  the  few.  It  has  won 
its  way  by  superior  efficiency  and  not 
by   violent  revolution.     Let  its  pro- 


Labor's  Responsibility  to  the  Community 


75 


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moters  refrain  from  ever  connecting  it 
with  revolutionary  propaganda  of  any 
kind.  And  yet  it  may  prove  to  be  the 
most  successful  effort  towards  an 
intelligent  transformation  of  our  system 
of  large  scale  industry,  substituting 
production  for  service  in  place  of 
production  for  profit.  It  implies  no 
sudden  cataclysmic  changes  that  leave 
a  world  sunk  in  misery,  but  is  a  gradual 
and  steady  development  that  spends 
its  blessings  as  it  grows  and  prospers, 
like  a  fruitful  tree  by  the  running 
waters. 

I  am  promising  the  reader  no  delu- 
sive Utopia,  no  world  here  below  where 
the  wicked  cease  from  troubling  and 
the  weary  are  at  rest.  Such  did  not 
exist  in  the  days  of  the  medieval  guilds 
and  will  not  exist  even  in  the  most 
perfectly  developed  system  of  Christian 
cooperation  in  the  future.  But  there 
is  one  thing  that  is  essential  if  we  would 


approximate  as  closely  as  possible  to 
such  a  happy  state,  and  that  is  religion. 
If  we  look  upon  man  as  no  more  than 
the  developed  brute,  a  conclusion 
equally  abhorrent  to  science  and 
philosophy,  if  we  remove  the  Divine 
from  the  laborer's  horizon,  it  will  be 
absurd  to  speak  of  any  responsibilities 
on  his  part  to  the  community  or  to  his 
fellows-man.  We  can  then  but  resign 
ourselves  to  a  perennial  state  of  jungle 
war  in  which  the  economically  strong- 
est, the  most  relentless  and  unscru- 
pulous will  survive  to  continue  their 
selfish  quarrel  with  each  other,  whether 
for  wealth  or  power,  as  the  case  may 
be.  Let  there  be  no  mistake  that  of 
all  the  workers'  obligations  the  greatest 
is  their  responsibility  to  the  Almighty 
Maker.  Being  true  to  this,  they  will 
be  true  to  themselves  and  to  their 
fellows.  Failing  in  this,  they  will  fail 
in  all  things. 


«■ 


'r 


The  Teaching  of  the  CathoHc  Church 

By  Rev.  John  A.  Ryan,  D.D. 

Director,  Department  of  Social  Action,  National  Catholic  Welfare  Council,  Washington,  D.  C. 


WHY  should  the  Church  have 
anything  to  say  about  the  rela- 
tions between  capital  and  labor? 
Are  not  these  purely  economic  arrange- 
ments, and  as  such  outside  the  province 
of  a  religious  society?  These  questions 
imply  a  misconception  which  Pope  Leo 
XIII  noted  as  very  conunon,  but  which 
he  promptly  rejected.  In  his  words, 
*'tlie  social  question  ...  is  first 
of  all  a  moral  and  religious  matter,  and 
for  that  reason  its  settlement  is  to  be 
sought  mainly  in  tlie  moral  law  and  the 
pronouncements  of  religion." 

To  any  reflecting  mind  the  truth  of 
this  statement  is  obvious.  Industrial 
relations  are  human  relations;  they  in- 
volve human  actions;  therefore,  they 
are  subject  to  the  moral  law.  They 
are  either  morally  right  or  morally 
wrong.  Inasmuch  as  the  Church  is 
the  accredited  interpreter  and  teacher 
of  the  moral  law,  her  authority  and 
function  in  the  field  of  industrial  rela- 
tions are  quite  as  certain  and  normal  as 
in  domestic  relations,  or  in  any  other 
department  of  human  life. 

The  principles  which  underlie  the 
teachings  of  the  Chiu-ch  on  industrial 
relations  are  found  in  the  Gospel  of 
Christ  and  in  the  moral  law  of  nature. 
One  of  these  is  the  principle  of  justice. 
Its  basis  is  found  in  Christ's  teaching 
on  personality.  Every  human  being 
has  intrinsic  worth,  has  been  redeemed 
by  Christ,  and  is  destined  for  everlast- 
ing union  with  God.  In  the  eyes  of 
God  all  persons  are  of  equal  impor- 
tance. Neither  in  industry  nor  in  any 
other  department  of  life  may  one  man 
be  used  as  a  mere  instrument  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  other  men.  Industrial,  no 
less  than  all  other  relations,  nmst  be  so 


organized  and  conducted  as  to  safe- 
guard personality  and  afford  to  all  j)er- 
sons  the  means  and  conditions  of  life  as 
children  of  God.  The  princii)le  of 
charity  or  love  is  even  more  cons})icu- 
ous  in  the  teacliing  of  Christ.  If  it 
were  honestly  and  adequately  aj^plied 
in  the  dealings  of  employer  with  em- 
ployee there  would  be  no  unsolved 
problem  of  industrial  relations. 

It  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  paper  to 
describe  the  extent  to  which  these  two 
great  principles  have  been  developed 
and  applied  in  the  various  forms  of 
industrial  relations  since  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  era.  By  way  of 
historical  summary  it  will  be  sufficient 
to  recall  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
Catholic  Church  on  this  subject  has 
eidiibited  great  consistency  and  con- 
tinuity throughout  the  whole  period. 
The  discouragement  of  slavery  and  serf- 
dom, the  insistence  upon  risk  and  labor 
as  the  chief  claims  to  economic  rewards, 
the  doctrine  of  the  just  price,  the  regu- 
lations and  ideals  of  the  guilds  concern- 
ing labor  organization,  good  workman- 
ship, reasonable  hours,  provision  against 
sickness,  etc.,  were  the  medieval  ex- 
pression of  the  traditional  doctrine. 
Its  first  systematic  adaptation  to  the 
conditions  of  modern  capitalism  occurs 
in  the  labor  program  of  the  German, 
Bishop  Ketteler.  In  this  program  we 
find  demands  for  the  prohibition  of 
child  labor,  of  unsuitable  woman  labor, 
of  unsanitary  labor  and  of  Sunday 
labor;  for  the  legal  regulation  of  work- 
ing hours;  for  insurance  against  sick- 
ness, accidents  and  old  age;  for  state 
factory  inspectors;  for  general  increases 
in  wages;  for  the  legal  protection  of 
workingmen's  cooi)erative  associations; 


The  Teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church 


77 


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■t' 


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76 


and  for  several  other  industrial  re- 
forms. More  than  once  Bishop  Ket- 
teler declared  that  there  was  nothing 
new  in  his  industrial  views  and  pro- 
posals, that  he  had  drawn  them  all  from 
the  storehouse  of  patristic  and  medieval 
doctrine. 

Encyclical  of  Pope  Leo  XIII  "On 
the  Condition  of  Labor" 

Less  than  fourteen  years  after  the 
death  of  Bishop  Ketteler,  Pope  Leo 
XIII  issued  his  great  encyclical,  "On 
the  Condition  of  Labor"  {Rerum 
Novarum,  May  15,  1891).  Previously 
he  had  referred  to  Bishop  Ketteler  as, 
"mj'  great  precursor."  The  principles 
which  the  illustrious  Bishop  of  Mainz 
enunciated  and  applied,  Pope  Leo 
reiterated,  developed,  systematized 
and  brought  into  more  specific  relation 
.  to  current  industrial  conditions,  prac- 
tices and  institutions.  While  two  of 
his  three  successors  (Pius  X  and  Bene- 
^  diet  XV)  have  made  pronouncements 
upon  various  phases  of  industrial 
relations,  they  have  both  expressly 
disclaimed  the  intention  of  adding  any- 
thing essential.  Therefore,  the  au- 
thoritative teaching  of  the  Catholic 
Church  on  this  subject  can  all  be  found 
in  the  encyclical  "On  the  Condition  of 
Labor."  In  that  document  we  find 
not  only  the  general  principles  but 
a  considerable  measure  of  concrete 
application. 

Having    rejected    and    condemned 

i  socialism  as  a  remedy  for  industrial  ills, 

the  Pope  explicitly  asserts  his  right  and 
authority  to  lay  down  principles  for  the 
guidance  of  the  two  great  industrial 
classes,  "for  no  practical  solution  of 
this  question  will  be  found  apart  from 
the  intervention  of  religion  and  the 
Church."  This  is  a  clear  challenge  to 
and  condemnation  of  all  those  self- 
ishly interested  persons  and  all  those 

y  sincerely  ignorant  persons  who  say  or 

think  that  "  the  Church  ought  to  keep 


to  spiritual  matters  and  not  meddle 
with  business  or  with  industrial  mat- 
ters." 

The  Pope  then  takes  up  the  social 
principles  of  the  Gospel.  Equality  of 
human  conditions  is  impossible.  No 
kind  of  social  organization  can  drive 
pain  and  hardship  out  of  life.  Capital 
and  labor  are  not  necessarily  hostile  to 
each  other,  but  are  mutually  depend- 
ent. Religion  teaches  the  laborer  to 
"carry  out  fairly  and  honestly  all 
equitable  agreements,"  to  refrain  from 
injuring  persons  or  property,  and  to 
avoid  men  of  evil  principles.  Religion 
teaches  the  employer  to  resi)ect  tlie 
dignity  of  his  employees  as  men  and 
Christians,  to  refrain  from  treating 
them  as  "chattels  for  the  making  of 
money,"  to  pay  them  fair  wages,  to 
give  them  sufficient  time  for  religious 
duties  and  not  to  impose  tasks  unsuited 
to  sex,  age  or  strength.  Those  who  are 
rich  should  regard  themselves  as  stew- 
ards, charged  with  the  duty  of  mak- 
ing a  right  use  of  their  wealth  for  them- 
selves and  others.  Those  who  are  poor 
should  realize  that  their  condition  was 
adopted  and  blessed  by  Christ  Himself, 
and  that  the  true  worth  of  man  lies  not 
in  his  material  possessions  but  in  his 
moral  qualities.  Both  classes  should 
always  bear  in  mind  that  they  are 
children  of  the  common  Father  and 
heirs  of  the  common  heavenly  kingdom. 

So  much  for  the  general  Christian 
principles.  The  man  who  considers 
them  fairly  and  adequately  w^ill  be 
compelled  to  answer  in  the  aflSrmative 
the  question  wath  which  Pope  Leo 
closes  this  part  of  the  encyclical: 
"Would  it  not  seem  that,  were  society 
penetrated  with  ideas  like  these,  strife 
must  quickly  cease?"  The  process  of 
"penetration"  is,  however,  retarded  by 
two  very  formidable  obstacles.  The 
first  is  wholly  moral;  the  second,  partly 
moral  and  partly  intellectual.  The 
practice  of  justice  and  charity  in  in- 


TO 


The  Annals  op  the  American  Academy 


, 


i, 


h; 


dustrial  relations  is  greatly  and  fre- 
quently prevented  and  impeded  by 
deliberate  selfishness  and  flagrant  bad 
faith.  More  often,  perhaps,  the  cur- 
rent injustice  and  uncharity  are  due  to 
culpable  or  inculpable  ignorance.  Many 
men  accept  the  principles  of  justice  and 
charity  as  applicable  to  industrial  rela- 
tions, but  do  not  realize  that  they  are 
violating  the  principles  in  their  indus- 
trial practices.  For  example,  an  em- 
ployer admits  the  obligation  of  paying 
"fair  wages,"  but  refuses  to  exceed  the 
inadequate  rate  that  is  freciuently  de- 
termined by  the  unmoral  forces  of  sup- 
ply and  demand.  An  employee  is  will- 
ing to  carry  out  "equitable  agreements," 
but  "loafs  on  the  job"  because  he 
thinks  that  his  wage  contract  is  not 
equitable.  An  employer  admits  that 
the  precept  of  brotherly  love  is  as 
pertinent  to  the  employment  relation 
as  to  the  neighborhood  relations,  yet 
he  exploits  little  children  for  profit  or 
maintains  an  unsanitary  workshop. 
An  employee  clamors  for  the  application 
of  the  Golden  Rule  to  industry,  but 
does  not  scruple  to  cause  his  employer 
great  inconvenience  by  absenting  him- 
self from  work  for  a  trivial  reason. 
Such  ignorance  of  the  practical  applica- 
tion and  practical  obligations  of  moral 
principles  in  the  field  of  industrial  rela- 
tions is  sometimes  quite  unconscious 
and  unsuspected  by  the  person  whom  it 
affects  and  afflicts.  Sometimes  it  is 
culpable,  at  least  to  this  extent:  the 
misguided  person  suspects  that  his 
conduct  is  not  entirely  consistent  with 
the  general  principles  of  justice  and 
charity,  but  he  fails  to  investigate  its 
moral  aspects  because  he  is  indifferent, 
or  because  he  is  afraid  that  the  results 
might  disturb  his  conscience. 

This  condition  and  this  need  Pope 
Leo  meets  by  a  fairly  specific  applica- 
tion of  general  principles  to  particular 
situations.  "Fairly  specific,"  because 
many  of  these  declarations  are  still 


somewhat  general  in  character.  How- 
ever, this  was  unavoidable  in  a  docu- 
ment which  was  written  for  the  indus- 
trial conditions  of  all  countries,  and 
which  endeavored  to  treat  all  the  great 
moral  problems  of  industry  within  the 
compass  of  an  encyclical  letter.  Never- 
theless, the  Pope's  pronouncements  on 
the  most  important  phases  and  the 
most  acute  problems  of  industrial  rela- 
tions are  sufficiently  specific  to  provide 
clear  and  adequate  guidance  to  all  men 
of  good  will.  The  other  kind  of  men 
are  beyond  the  reach  of  instruction 
and  argument.  They  can  be  moved 
only  by  fear.  They  will  respond  only  to 
the  denunciation  of  the  prophet,  or  the 
coercive  power  of  the  State. 

Teachings  of  the  Encyclical 

The  specific  teaching  of  the  encyc- 
lical can  be  summarized  under  the 
heads  of  wages,  labor  organization, 
state  intervention  and  private  prop- 
erty. Each  of  these  topics  will  be  dealt 
with  briefly. 

Wages. — Justice  in  this  matter  is  not 
realized  through  mere  freedom  of  con- 
tract. While  worker  and  employer 
"should,  as  a  rule,  make  free  agree- 
ments concerning  wages,  there  is  a 
dictate  of  nature  more  imperious  and 
more  ancient  than  any  bargain  between 
man  and  man,  namely,  that  the 
remimeration  must  be  sufficient  to  sup- 
port the  wage-earner  in  reasonable  and 
frugal  comfort.  If  tlirough  necessity 
or  fear  of  a  worse  evil  the  workman  ac- 
cept harder  conditions  because  an  em- 
ployer will  give  him  no  better,  he  is 
made  the  victim  of  Corce  and  injustice.'' 

This  is  the  doctrine  of  the  living  wage. 
Pope  Leo  does  not  say  that  it  represents 
complete  justice.  It  is  merely  the 
minimum  of  justice,  the  amount  that  is 
ethically  due  to  every  wage-earner  by 
the  mere  fact  that  he  is  a  human  being, 
with  a  life  to  maintain,  and  a  personal- 
ity to  develop.     The  special  qualifica- 


The  Teaching  of  the  Catholic  Church 


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tions  and  claims  which  entitle  men  to 
more  than  the  minimum  of  justice, 
such  as  skill,  hazard,  responsibility, 
cost  of  training,  etc.,  are  not  formally 
considered  in  the  Pope's  discussion. 
The  living  wage  that  he  has  in  mind  is 
an  amount  sufficient  not  merely  for  the 
worker  himself,  but  also  for  the  proper 
maintenance  of  his  family.  Such  is 
the  law  of  nature,  and  such  is  the  in- 
terpretation evidently  put  upon  the 
phrase  by  Pope  Leo  himself. 

That  the  living-wage  doctrine  con- 
tinues to  have  great  practical  impor- 
tance, is  shown  by  the  following  de- 
plorable facts:  the  majority  of  laborers, 
even  in  the  United  States,  receive  less 
than  living  wages;  probably  the  ma- 
jority of  employers  reject  both   the 
principle  and  its  application,  still  ad- 
hering to  the  idea  that  wage  justice  is 
determined  entirely  by  the  operation  of 
supply  and  demand;  the  principle  was 
deliberately  ignored  by  an  important 
public  tribunal,  a  few  months  ago,  in 
fixing  the  wage  rates  of  many  thousands 
of  employees  on  the  railroads.     How 
profoundly  industrial  relations  would 
he  transformed  and  how  greatly  they 
would  be  improved,  if  this  one  doctrine 
were  universally  accepted  and  trans- 
lated into  reality! 

Labor   Organization. — The   Catholic 
•Church  has  always  regarded  organiza- 
tion, whether  of  employees  or  of  em- 
ployers, as  the  normal  condition.     She 
has  never  accepted  the  philosophy  of 
individualism  and  unlimited  competi- 
tion.    Pope    Leo    deplores    the    dis- 
appearance of  the  ancient  guilds,  and 
expresses  gratification  over  the  exist- 
ence of  various  forms  of  workmen's 
associations;  "but  it  were  greatly  to  be 
desired  that  they  should  become  more 
numerous  and  more  efficient."     Men 
have  a  natural  right  to  enter  them,  a 
right  which  cannot  be  annulled  by  the 
State.     "We   may,"    says   the   Pope, 
"lay  it  down  as  a  general  and  lasting 


law,  that  workingmen's  associations 
should  be  so  organized  and  governed  as 
to  furnish  the  best  and  most  suitable 
means  for  attaining  what  is  aimed  at, 
that  is  to  say,  for  helping  each  individ- 
ual member  to  better  his  condition  to 
the  utmost  in  body,  mind  and  prop- 
erty." On  the  other  hand,  Pope  Leo 
denounces  those  societies  w^hich  "are 
in  the  hands  of  secret  leaders,  .  .  . 
who  do  their  utmost  to  get  within  their 
grasp  the  whole  field  of  labor,  and  force 
workingmen  either  to  join  them  or  to 
starve." 

The  first  of  the  two  passages  just 
quoted  implicitly,  yet  unmistakably, 
condemns  the  insidious  "open  shop" 
campaign,  and  every  other  movement 
which  seeks  to  render  the  unions  inef- 
fective, by  denying  the  right  of  ade- 
quate collective  bargaining.  In  the 
words  of  the  Pastoral  Letter  of  the 
American  Hierarchy,  the  workers  have 
a  right  "to  form  and  maintain  the  kind 
of  organization  that  is  necessary  and 
that  will  be  most  effective  in  securing 
their  welfare." 

Pope  Leo  makes  more  than  one  refer- 
ence to  joint  associations  of  employers 
and  employees,  "which  draw  the  two 
classes  more  closely  together."  The 
underlying  principle  is  exemplified  in 
joint  conferences  for  the  establishment 
of  trade  agreements,  and  in  shop  com- 
mittees, works  councils  and  other  ar- 
rangements for  increasing  the  control  of 
labor  over  employment  conditions  and 
industrial  operations.  Upon  the  ap- 
plication and  extension  of  this  principle 
and  these  methods  depends  to  a  very 
great  extent  the  attainment  of  indus- 
trial peace. 

The  Function  of  the  State.— Under 
this  head  Pope  Leo  lays  down  one 
general  principle  and  several  specific 
applications.  "WTienever  the  general 
interest  or  any  particular  class  suffers 
or  is  threatened  with  injury  which  can 
in  no  other  way  be  met  or  prevented,  it 


^ 


«MP 


80 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


ii 


is  the  duty  of  the  public  authority  to 
intervene."  No  more  comprehensive 
authorization  of  State  intervention 
coukl  be  reasonably  desired.  Apply- 
ing the  principle  to  industrial  relations, 
Pope  Leo  declares  that  the  poor  "have 
no  resources  of  their  own  to  fall  back 
upon,  and  must  chiefly  depend  upon 
the  assistance  of  the  State."  Continu- 
ing in  more  particular  terms,  he  says 
that  the  law  should  forestall  strikes  bv 
removing  the  unjust  conditions  which 
provoke  them;  protect  the  worker's 
spiritual  welfare,  and  his  right  to  Sun- 
day rest;  restrict  the  length  of  the 
working  day,  so  that  men's  labor  will 
not  "stupefy  their  minds  and  wear  out 
their  bodies";  prohibit  the  employment 
of  children  "in  workshops  and  factories 
until  their  bodies  and  minds  are  suf- 
ficiently developed";  prevent  the  en- 
trance of  women  into  occupations  for 
which  they  are  not  fitted;  and  provide 
all  classes  of  workers  with  "proper  rest 
for  soul  and  body."  While  tlje  Pope 
does  not  explicitly  declare  that  the 
State  should  enforce  a  living  wage,  he 
clearly  indicates  that  such  action 
should  be  taken  in  default  of  effective 
voluntary  arrangements. 

Diffusion  of  Property. — Those  stu- 
dents and  thinkers  who  believe  that 
industrial  relations  will  not  be  stabilized 
nor  industrial  peace  assured  until  the 
wage-earners  become  to  a  great  extent 
participants  in  the  ownership  of  in- 
dustry, will  find  considerable  encourage- 
ment in  Pope  Leo's  declarations  on 
private  property.  To  represent  these 
as  merely  a  condemnation  of  socialism, 
as  merely  concerned  with  the  institution 
of  ownership  and  not  with  its  distribu- 
tion, is  highly  misleading.  The  whole 
argument  of  the  Pope  on  this  subject 
manifests  a  strong  appreciation  of  the 
benefits  which  private  property  brings 


to  the  individual  workingman.  Hence 
the  policy  of  the  State  should  be  "to 
induce  as  many  as  possible  of  the 
humbler  class  to  become  owners."  As 
a  consequence,  "proj)erty  will  become 
more  equitably  divided,"  and  "the 
gulf  between  vast  wealth  and  sheer 
poverty  will  be  bridged  over." 

The  Pope's  observations  on  this 
subject  afi'ord  little  comfort  to  the  de- 
fenders of  industrial  autocracy.  He 
deplores  the  division  of  industrial 
society  into  two  classes,  one  of  which 
"holds  power  because  it  holds  wealth; 
which  has  in  its  grasp  the  whole  of  labor 
and  trade;  which  manipulates  for  its 
own  benefit  and  its  own  purposes  all 
the  sources  of  supply,  and  which  is 
even  represented  in  the  councils  of  the 
State  itself." 

Referring  to  the  wide  extension  of 
ownership  in  the  later  Middle  Ages,  the 
Pastoral  Letter  of  the  American  Hier- 
archy declares:  "Though  the  economic 
arrangements  of  that  time  cannot  be 
restored,  the  underlying  principle  is  of 
permanent  application,  and  is  the  only 
one  that  will  give  stability  to  industrial 
society.  It  should  be  applied  to  our 
present  system  as  rapidly  as  conditions 
will  permit." 

To  sum  up:  Now  as  always  the 
Catholic  Church  conceives  her  mission 
as  that  of  saving  souls.  Men  save 
their  souls  by  conducting  themselves 
righteously  in  all  the  relations  of  life. 
Among  the  most  important  of  these  re- 
lations are  those  that  we  call  industrial. 
If  the  Church  did  not  provide  guidance 
in  this  field  she  would  neglect  one  of  her 
most  important  duties.  If  the  princi- 
ples and  proposals  contained  in  the 
encyclical,  "On  the  Condition  of 
Labor,"  were  carried  into  effect  our  in- 
dustrial society  would  be  improved 
immeasurably. 


^ 


v^'!  > 


i 


The  Teaching  of  the  Protestant  Church 

By  F.  Ernest  Johnson 

Research  Secretary,  Commission  on  the  Church  and  Social  Service,  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches 

of  Christ  in  America 


THE  teachings  of  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity on  any  particular  subject 
lend  themselves  much  less  readily  to 
exact  statement  than  those  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  This  is  due  in  part 
to  the  great  variety  of  communions  in 
Protestantism  which  do  not  closely 
agree  among  themselves.  One  of  the 
earliest  notable  statements  of  the 
T  Church's  relation  to  industry  recog- 
nized this  limitation.  "  The  Protestant 
churches  of  the  United  States  have  had, 
until  now,  no  authorized  common 
ground.  Labor,  industrial  workers, 
trades  unions,  have  discussed  that  at- 
titude of  "the  Church,"  and  the  whole 
body  of  believers  has,  theoretically, 
been  included.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
,  "  the  Church  "  has  been  some  individual 
organization,  some  one  of  the  denomi- 
nations or  some  voluntary  assemblage, 
non-representative  and  without  author- 
ity. "  ^  Aside  from  this  limitation  there 
is  a  tendency  in  Protestantism  to  be 
less  specific  in  ethical  precepts  and  to 
deal  with  moral  questions,  whether 
individual  or  social,  in  universal  rather 
than  particular  terms. 

Probably  it  must  be  admitted,  too, 
that  the  Protestant  communions  have 
been  much  slower  in  coming  to  con- 
scious recognition  of  industrial  prob- 
lems as  calling  for  a  specific  treatment 
by  the  Church.  Spiritual  responsibility 
for  a  very  large  section  of  the  working 
world  has  given  rise  to  a  body  of  Catholic 
doctrine  bearing  upon  industrial  condi- 
tions and  relations  that  is  quite  w  ithout 
parallel  in  Protestantism.  Moreover, 
the  authority  of  the  Church  in  matters 

1  The  Church  and  Modern   Industry,  page  7. 
V  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 

America. 

7  81 


generally  referred  to  as  "temjwral," 
rather  than  spiritual,  has  been  steadily 
disputed  in  Protestantism,  and  a  clear 
interpretation  of  scriptural  teaching  on 
industrial  problems  has  been  conse- 
quently slow  in  forming. 

Yet  there  is  a  bodv  of  doctrine, 
gradually  taking  form  in  the  Protestant 
churches,  which  represents  an  effort  to 
express  Christian  principles  in  terms  of 
the  working  life  of  the  people.  This 
body  of  teaching  has  no  uniform  vehicle 
of  expression,  although  the  "Social 
Ideals  of  the  Churches"  are  an  ap- 
proach to  a  Protestant  statement  of 
social  faith  with  particular  reference  to 
industry,  and  are,  in  fact,  commonly 
referred  to  as  the  "Social  Creed." 
This  declaration,  which  is  by  no  means 
complete  or  adequate,  cannot  be  said 
to  be  fully  authoritative  since  not  all 
the  Protestant  bodies  have  accepted  it. 
It  must  be  admitted  also  that  those 
denominations  which  have  ratified  it 
do  not  consider  it  as  having  the  same 
weight  as  a  statement  of  theological 
faith.  Nevertheless,  it  constitutes  a 
definite  approach  to  a  statement  of 
Christian  principles  in  relation  to  in- 
dustrial life. 

Ecclesiastical  developments  within 
Protestantism  have  had  a  palpable 
effect  upon  the  application  of  ethical 
principles  to  economic  and  industrial 
problems  as  far  as  the  authority  of  the 
Church  is  concerned.  The  increasing 
assumption  of  power  by  the  laity  in 
Protestantism  has  put  the  determina- 
tion of  the  Church's  official  attitude 
and  effectual  teaching  more  and  more 
in  the  hands  of  men  whose  primary  in- 
terest and  activity  have  been  in  the 
sphere    of   practical    business.     "The 


; 


82 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


Church  as  an  owner  and  an  employer," 
said  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches 
in  this  connection,  in  1908,  *' gravitates 
naturally  toward  the  position  where 
men  of  business  experience  and  ample 
resources  come  into  leadership." 

This  has  inevitably  put  a  check  upon 
the  elaboration  of  Christian  teaching  in 
sociaj  terms,  a  development  which  has 
had  freer  course  in  the  Catholic  Church. 
Thus  it  happens  that  the  Catholic 
Church,  which  has  maintained  the  doc- 
trinal tradition  of  Christianity  substan- 
tially unmodified  and  which  therefore 
appears  to  be  theologically  conservative 
as  compared  with  Protestantism,  is  at 
the  same  time  more  liberal  in  its  ex- 
plicit teaching  with  reference  to  mat- 
ters economic  and  industrial. 

Protestant  Individualism 

Protestantism  was  originally,  of 
course,  an  individualistic  reaction. 
One  of  the  principles  of  the  Reforma- 
tion was  the  "universal  priesthood  of 
believers."  As  a  corollary  of  this 
principle,  Protestantism  necessarily 
lays  emphasis  upon  the  immeasurable 
worth  of  the  individual  life.  One 
consequence  of  this  emphasis  has  been 
unfortunate.  Undoubtedly  the  devel- 
opment of  the  laissez-faire  theory  in 
economics,  with  the  inevitable  result 
of  unrestrained  privilege,  is  in  part  due 
to  the  strong  individualistic  tradition  of 
Protestantism,  particularly  in  its  Cal- 
vinistic  form.  A  more  legitimate  and, 
it  is  to  be  hoped,  more  permanent 
product  of  our  Protestant  tradition  is 
the  growing  insistence  upon  regard  for 
the  principle  of  the  worth  of  personality 
in  the  distribution  of  wealth,  op- 
portunity and  power. 

Thus  there  are  two  contrary  in- 
fluences in  Protestant  tradition  having 
to  do  with  the  individualistic  emphasis 
which  characterized  the  Reformation. 
One  has  facilitated  the  development 
of  that  extreme  individualism  which 


marks  the  capitalistic  order,  while  the 
other  has  opposed  this  tendency  by 
putting  forward  the  claim  of  every  in- 
dividual to  be  free  from  the  encroach- 
ments of  any  individual.  The  latter 
influence  is  coming  to  overbalance  the 
former  in  modern,  as  distinguished  from 
early.  Protestantism. 

Protestant  teaching,  then,  concern- 
ing industrial  questions,  is  crystallizing 
around  the  doctrine  of  the  worth  of  the 
individual  as  the  possessor  of  personal- 
ity. This  is  taking  place  largely  by 
way  of  protest  against  the  tendency  of 
modern  industry  to  submerge  the  indi- 
vidual in  industrial  mechanism.  Prot- 
estant leaders  are  identifying  Chris- 
tian teaching  concerning  human  life 
and  human  relations  with  the  claims 
of  democracy.  This  change  of  inter- 
pretation is  the  natural  outcome  of 
wholly  unofficial  but  virile  and  in- 
fluential movements  with  which  are 
connected  the  names  of  such  great 
religious  leaders  as  Charles  Kingsley, 
Frederick  W.  Robertson,  Frederick 
Denison  Maurice,  Canon  Barnett, 
Washington  Gladden,  Josiah  Strong 
and  Walter  Rauschenbusch.  In  its 
beginnings  the  Methodist  movement, 
led  by  Wesley  and  his  associates,  al- 
though it  did  not  come  to  consciousness 
in  the  sphere  of  industry,  contributed 
to  a  growing  concern  for  the  well-being 
of  every  individual  regardless  of  social 
status.  The  Baptist  and  Congrega- 
tional churches  have  contributed  no- 
tably to  the  conservation  and  carrying 
forward  of  democratic  traditions. 

Activity  of  American  Churches 

The  first  conspicuous  signs  of  a 
definite  concern  with  matters  economic 
and  industrial  within  Protestantism  as 
a  whole,  appeared  in  this  country  in 
1908  when  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America  was  for- 
mally organized,  and  authorized  the 
creation  of  a  Commission  on  the  Church 


The  Teaching  of  the  Protestant  Church 


83 


^ 


X 


k 


<l 


> 


and  Social  Service.  This  Commission 
was  instructed  to  "recognize  the  import 
of  present  social  conditions"  and  "es- 
pecially to  secure  a  better  understand- 
ing and  a  more  natural  relationship  be- 
tween workingmen  and  the  Church." 
The  statement  announcing  the  crea- 
tion of  the  Commission  declared  that 
"there  are  many  phases  of  the  present 
industrial  conditions  in  the  United 
Stares  which  cry  aloud  for  immediate 
remedy.  The  Church,  which  has  ob- 
ligations to  every  sort  of  interest  and 
person  in  the  community,  must  be 
identified,  locally  and  nationally,  with 
the  whole  of  the  people  more  markedly 
than  with  any  part  of  them,  and  will 
be  sensitive  to  every  influence  which 
aft'ects  the  larger  constituency."  And 
again,  "multitudes  are  deprived,  by 
what  are  called  economic  laws,  of  that 
opportunity  to  which  every  man  has  a 
right.  When  automatic  movements 
cause  injustice  and  disaster,  the  auton- 
omy should  be  destroyed.  That  to 
these  impersonal  causes  are  added  the 
cruelties  of  greed,  the  heartlessness  of 
ambition  and  the  cold  indifference  of 
corporate  selfishness,  every  friend  of  his 
fellow  must  with  grief  and  shame 
admit."  Thus  the  foundation  was 
laid  for  the  developments  of  the  inter- 
vening years.  The  Social  Creed  of  the 
Churches,  whose  formulation  was  com- 
menced in  1908,  attained  its  present 
form  in  1912  and  was  further  inter- 
preted in  the  light  of  present  problems 
by  the  four  resolutions  of  1919  dealing 
with  the  requirements  of  industrial 
democracy.  Twelve  of  the  sixteen 
articles  of  this  Creed  have  definite 
reference  to  industrial  conditions  and 
relations.  ^ 

By  way  of  reenforcement  of  the  So- 
cial Ideals  of  the  Churches,  liberal 
pronouncements  have  been  made  by 
the  Board  of  Bishops  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  the  National  Coun- 
^  The  document  appears  in  full  on  page  120. 


cil  of  Congregational  Churches,  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  Northern  Baptist  Conven- 
tion, the  Methodist  Church  of  Canada 
and  other  communions.  The  sixteen 
articles  of  the  Social  Creed  have  been 
ratified  by  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  while  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association  has  ratified  not 
only  the  Creed  but  the  four  supple- 
mentary resolutions  as  well. 

In  1920  the  Committee  on  the  W^ar 
and  the  Religious  Outlook,  created 
jointly  by  the  Federal  Council  of 
Churches  and  the  General  War  Time 
Commission  of  the  Chiu-ches,  pub- 
lished The  Church  and  Industrial  Re- 
construction'^ which,  while  unoflScial, 
has  been  accepted  as  a  summary  of 
liberal  Protestant  thought  concerning 
industrial  problems.  In  this  formula- 
tion the  teaching  of  Christianity  which 
bears  upon  industrial  problems  is  held 
to  be  threefold : 

1.  The  intrinsic  worth  of  personality. 
This  gives  to  every  individual  "distinct  and 
measureless  value  as  a  child  of  God  and  a 
potential  member  of  His  Kingdom." 

2.  The  organic  unity  of  human  society. 
"Personality  can  fulfill  itself  only  in  a 
social  setting,  its  values  be  realized  only  in 
fellowship."  Thus  the  ideal  of  human  life 
is  the  universal  brotherhood. 

3.  The  motive  of  service.  This  means 
that  "property  is  to  be  subordinated  to 
spiritual  ends,"  that  it  has  "social  signif- 
icance as  expressing  a  responsibility  for 
service,"  and  that  claim  to  it  is  justified 
only  when  based  upon  service  rendered. 

By  way  of  application  of  these  prin- 
ciples, the  writers  of  the  book  insist 
first  that  the  Christian  conscience 
must  judge  the  holding  of  property  on 
the  basis  of  its  use;  that  is  to  say, 
property  that  is  held  with  reference  to 
the  power  and  advantage  which  accrue 
to  the  owner  rather  than  to  its  social 
usefulness  violates  a  spiritual  principle. 
As  to  the  wage  system,  it  is  recognized 

'  New  York,  Association  Press. 


84 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


that  the  wageworker  does  not  possess 
economic  freedom.  The  hiw  of  supply 
and  demand  as  appUed  to  labor  is  de- 
clared to  be  unchristian.  Every  oc- 
cupation should  furnish  to  the  worker 
not  merely  a  livelihood  but  the  greatest 
possible  measure  of  creative  satisfac- 
tion. Competition  is  considered  per- 
missible from  a  Christian  point  of  view 
if  it  is  primarily  competition  in  service 
or  in  achievement,  but  never  if  it  has 
reference  solely  to  pecuniary  reward. 
Especially  is  it  to  be  condemned  if  it 
leads  to  the  establishment  of  perma- 
nent privilege  and  advantage.  The 
seeking  of  private  profits  as  a  "primary 
motive  in  economic  competition"  nuist 
l>e  regarded  as  inconsistent  with  Chris- 
tianity. As  a  struggle  for  the  larger 
share  of  the  world's  wealth,  in  which 
human  beings  are  pitted  against  each 
other,  it  must  be  abandoned  if  Chris- 
tianity is  to  prevail.  In  short,  this 
formulation  of  Christian  teaching  in- 
sists that  the  present  industrial  system 
is  defective  because  of  the  undue  stimu- 
lus which  it  gives  to  selfish  motives. 

It  is  asserted  further  that  Christian- 
ity prescril^es  not  only  the  goal  of 
social  effort,  but  also  the  method  of 
true  progress.  That  method  involves 
first,  the  development  of  love  as  the 
inclusive  j^rinciple  which  conserves 
personal  values,  promotes  brotherhood, 
and  practices  service;  secondly,  the 
promotion  of  faith  in  the  triumph  of 
the  divine  w  ill  in  the  world,  which  im- 
plies likewise  faith  in  human  nature; 
and,  finally,  the  direction  of  spiritual 
growth  through  education. 

The  Church  and  Industrial  Recon- 
struction calls  upon  Christian  employ- 
ers to  give  new  recognition  to  the 
spiritual  worth  of  their  employees  and 
particularly  to  the  principle  of  col- 
lective bargaining  and  the  sharing  of 
the  management  of  industry.  Chris- 
tian investors  are  urged  to  assure  them- 
selves that  their  investments  are  not 


merely  financially  sound,  but  socially 
beneficent.  Christians  as  employees 
are  counseled  to  go  about  the  business 
of  production  not  merely  as  a  means  of 
livelihood,  but  as  a  service  to  the  entire 
community,  and  to  promote  among 
themselves  the  ideals  of  democracy 
which  employers  have  been  called  upon 
to  recognize.  Upon  Christians  as 
consumers  is  laid  the  duty  to  concern 
themselves  with  the  labor  conditions 
involved  in  the  production  of  what 
they  buy  and  thus  to  ally  themselves 
with  the  salutary  movements  within 
industry  itself.  Finally,  Christians  as 
citizens  should  secure  through  political 
action  tlie  highest  well-being  of  the 
workers  and  should  strive  to  reach  an 
intelligent  and  fair  conclusion  as  to  the 
causes  of  industrial  conflict  or  other 
industrial  evils,  using  their  influence  to 
safeguard  free  discussion  and  to  bring 
the  truth  to  light. 

Activity  of  English  Churches 

In  England  very  important  work  has 
been  done  in  the  last  few  years  in 
formulating  Christian  teachings  with 
respect  to  economic  and  industrial 
questions.  The  Archbishops'  Fifth 
Committee  of  Inquiry,  which  submit- 
ted in  1919  an  elaborate  report  on 
Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems 
was  in  reality  the  precursor  of  the 
American  Committee  on  the  War  and 
the  Religious  Outlook,  to  whose  report 
reference  has  just  been  made. 

A  group  of  twenty  British  Quaker 
employers  held  discussions  during  1917 
and  1918  at  the  conclusion  of  which 
they  published  a  statement  concerning 
the  duties  of  Christian  employers  in 
which  they  took  advance  ground. 
Much  of  the  statement  has  to  do  with 
the  details  of  industrial  betterment,  but 
a  part  of  their  conclusions  constitutes  a 
Christian  testimony  that  has  far-reach- 
ing spiritual  significance.  "Some  em- 
ployer may  tell  us  that  we  are  asking 


i 


The  Teaching  of  the  Protestant  Church 


85 


4>\ 


^ 


him  to  draw  too  many  practical  infer- 
ences from  a  religious  formula.  But 
the  conviction  we  have  outlined  is 
more  than  a  formula.  It  is  a  vantage 
ground,  from  which  we  can  survey  the 
whole  field  of  social  and  industrial  life, 
seeing  in  it,  not  sheer  blind  turmoil, 
but  a  vast  meaning  and  a  vast  hope. 
There  is  but  one  way  of  escaping  from 
the  implications  of  such  a  conviction,  to 
abandon  it  entirely,  to  forsake  the 
vantage  ground  and  to  forget  the  only 
vision  that  could  dominate  our  whole 
lives.  Then  the  world  of  industry 
may  revert  to  a  soulless  chaos  in  which 
we  strive  for  our  own  ends.  But  those 
ends,  even  as  we  achieve  them,  will 
seem  meaningless  and  vain." 

The  Lambeth  Conference,  which 
met  in  England  in  1920,  declared  that 
"an  outstanding  and  pressing  duty  of 
the  Church  is  to  convince  its  members 
of  the  necessity  of  nothing  less  than  a 
fundamental  change  in  the  spirit  and 
v^)rking  of  our  economic  life"  in  order 
to  realize  such  aims  as  the  foregoing 
statements  have  contemplated.  The 
conference  enumerated  the  immediate 
objectives  without  which  a  Christian 
industrial  order  cannot  be  realized,  all 


looking  in  the  direction  of  greater  free- 
dom and  security  to  the  individual  and 
more  brotherly  relations  in  industry. 
As  to  the  competitive  system,  the 
Bishops  declared  that  "the  dominant 
principle  in  a  rightly  ordered  society 
will  be  cooperation  for  the  common 
good  rather  than  competition  for  pri- 
vate advantage.  It  cannot  be  said 
that  this  principle  rules  our  present 
system." 

In  conclusion  it  must  be  said  that 
there  is  an  unmistakable  tendency, 
even  among  the  most  conservative 
Protestant  communions,  to  restate  the 
teachings  of  Jesus  in  social  terms  and 
with  particular  reference  to  economic 
and  industrial  problems.  There  is  no 
consensus  of  Protestantism  as  to  the 
full  implications  of  Christian  teaching 
in  this  field,  but  the  churches  are 
undoubtedly  moving  in  the  direction  of 
insistence  upon  a  full  recognition  of  the 
rights  and  needs  of  the  individual,  upon 
a  more  democratic  distribution  of  the 
product  of  industry  and  of  power  and 
responsibility  in  industrial  manage- 
ment, and  upon  the  dominance  of  the 
service  motive  as  over  against  competi- 
tion for  material  gain. 


Judaism  and  the  Industrial  Crisis 

By  Dr.  Sidney  E.  Goldstein 

Free  Synagogue 


THE    teachings    of    Judaism    con- 
cerning   industry    and    industrial 
problems  are  derived  from  the  preach- 
ing of  the  prophets  and  also  from  the 
codes    of    Israel.     We    recognize    the 
prophets  as  the  earliest  protagonists 
of  social  reform;  but  to  the  principles 
these    teachers    announce    must    be 
added  the  less  known  laws  and  com- 
mands found  in  the  many  codes  Israel 
has  constructed  for  guidance  in   the 
affairs  of  life.     Both  the  laws  of  the 
codes  and  the  principles  of  the  prophets 
are,  however,  in  turn  the  outgrowth  of 
two  fundamental  facts,  first,  a  passion 
for  justice  that  is  central  to  the  faith 
of  Israel;  and  second,  a  world  experi- 
ence that  extends  over  forty  centuries 
— an    experience    that    has    brought 
Israel  into  contact  with  many  forms 
of  life,  nomad,  agricultural  and  urban; 
with    many    systems    of    legislation, 
secular  and   sacred;  with   many  dif- 
ferent conceptions  of  civilization,   in 
Asia,    Africa,    Europe    and    America. 
Out   of   this   passion,    unabated   and 
unimpaired,   enriched   and   intensified 
rather  by  our  contacts  and  coopera- 
tions and  conflicts  with  other  social 
groups    and    conceptions   of   life,    we 
have  formulated  our  social  program. 

Freedom 

Israel  began  its  history  as  a  people 
with  the  Exodus.  The  escape  from 
Egypt,  the  house  of  bondage,  the  mi- 
raculous emancipation  from  industrial 
servitude,  has  never  faded  from  the 
heart  of  Israel.  From  vear  to  vear 
we  recall  this  providential  experience 
and  reaffirm  our  faith  in  the  lesson  of 
freedom.  No  man  shall  live  in  slavery 
to  his  brother.     Tyranny  and  autoc- 


racy are  intolerable  in  human  society. 
All  men  must  be  free,  free  to  determine 
the  conditions  under  which  they  are  to 
live  and  to  work. 

The  present  attempt  of  small  groups 
of  men  to  deny  to  the  mass  of  workers 
the  right  to  organize  in  their  own  way, 
to  elect  and  to  speak  through  their 
own    representatives,    to    decide    for 
themselves  the  terms  of  employment, 
is  violative  of  the  elementary  right  of 
freedom.     Judaism     protests     against 
the  policy  of  the  United  States  Steel 
Corporation  because  the  chairman  of 
the    Executive    Committee    and    his 
associates  have  established  in  the  steel 
industry  a  state  of  industrial  autocracy. 
They    presume    to    dictate    to    three 
hundred    thousand    workers,    over  -a, 
million  men,  women  and  children,  the 
conditions  of  labor  and  the  standards 
of    life.     Judaism    sympathizes    with 
and  supports  the  steel  worker  because 
we  know  from  our  own  experience  that 
not  until  the  power  of  the  Pharaohs 
has  been  broken  will  men  be  free  to 
march  forward  to  the  land  of  promise. 
The  people  may  perish  in  the  wilder- 
ness, but  it  is  far  better  to  die  in  free- 
dom than  to  live  in  slaverv. 


Health 

Another  principal  cardinal  in  Juda- 
ism is  the  sanctity  of  human  life.  This 
teaching  is  emj)hasized  in  every  code 
and  in  everj'  command.  Human  life 
must  be  guarded  and  preserved.  In- 
dustry must  be  so  organized  and  con- 
ducted that  it  will  not  endanger  the 
life  of  men  and  women.  Occupational 
diseases  must  be  eliminated,  industrial 
accidents  must  be  prevented.  The 
crippling  of  workers  and  the  under- 


i 


K 


■• 


«l 


Judaism  and  the  Industrial  Crisis 


87 


86 


mining  of  health  is  inexcusable.     But 
more  than  this,  industry  must  be  so 
developed   that   it   will  promote   and 
advance  human  life.     Tuberculosis  is  a 
case  in  point.     Tuberculosis  is  a  disease 
of  low  resistance.     The  chief  way  to 
raise  the  resistance  of  men  and  women 
is    to    raise    the    standard    of   living. 
The  chief  way  to  raise  the  standard  of 
living  is  to  increase  the  income  of  the 
working  class.     The  sudden  drop  in 
the  mortality  rate  from  tuberculosis 
during  the  last  four  years  is  due  in 
part   to   campaigns   of   education,   in 
part  to  reduced  immigration,  in  part 
to  the  influenza  epidemic  that  carried 
away  many  who  would  have  died  of 
tuberculosis,  but  the  largest  factor  of 
all  is  the  improved  economic  status 
of  the  laboring  classes.     To  permit  a 
form  of  industrial  organization  that 
jeopardizes    life    and    that    makes    it 
impossible    to    outgrow    the    plagues 
that  follow  upon  lowered  resistance, 
y}>hysical  and  mental,   is  contrary  to 
the  teachings  of  Judaism  that  life  is 
sacred  and  that  it  is  our  sacred  duty 
to  preserve  and  to  promote  the  health 
(^f  men  and  women  and  children. 

Rest 

The  third  principle  is  found  in  the 
command  to  observe  the  Sabbath  day 
and  keep  it  holy.  In  the  Deutero- 
nomic  interpretation  the  reason  given 
for  the  Sabbath  is  rest:  rest  from  labor 
for  the  manservant,  for  the  cattle  and 
for  the  stranger  within  the  gates,  as 
well  as  for  the  master  of  the  household. 
But  back  of  this  Commandment  there 
is  a  larger  thought  that  is  developed 
through  the  literature  of  Israel.  Every 
man  and  woman  must  be  assured  the 
opportunity  for  rest  and  refreshment 
of  both  body  and  spirit.  Judaism  is 
not  committed  to  the  eight-hour  day 
nor  to  the  six-hour  day,  but  it  is  com- 
mitted, and  this  irrevocably,  to  the 
full  development  of  all  our  powers, 


physical,  mental  and  spiritual.  No 
industry  is  properly  organized  that 
works  men  to  the  point  of  weariness 
and  fatigue  and  exhaustion.  No  in- 
dustry is  organized  in  accordance  with 
the  teachings  of  Judaism  that  makes 
it  impossible  for  the  men  engaged  there- 
in to  increase  knowledge  and  to  cul- 
tivate character.  The  less  time  men 
spend  in  the  darkness  of  the  mine  and 
the  sweat  of  the  factory  and  the  mo- 
notony of  the  mill,  the  more  time  will 
these  men  have  to  spend  in  the  library, 
the  museum,  the  art  gallery  and  the 
chamber  of  music.  The  invention  of 
machinery  must  mean  not  greater 
profit  for  the  employer  and  greater 
slavery  for  the  worker,  but  the  saving 
of  hours  and  the  release  of  energy  for 
the  cultivation  of  higher  graces  that 
come  with  education  and  culture  and 
comradeship.  These  graces  every  man 
and  woman  should  enjoy,  not  as  a 
grant,  but,  according  to  the  teachings 
of  Judaism,  as  an  inalienable  and  un- 
questioned right. 

Work 

The  importance  and  dignity  of 
labor  is  the  fourth  thought  constantly 
stressed  in  the  Jewish  faith.  An 
ancient  tale  tells  us  that  when  (jod 
told  Adam  and  Eve  the  earth  would 
bring  forth  thorns  and  thistles  they 
wept:  when  He  added  they  would  eat 
their  bread  in  the  sweat  of  their  brow, 
they  laughed  and  rejoiced.  Nowhere 
is  this  teaching  concerning  the  place 
that  labor  holds  in  the  economy  of 
human  life  so  finely  expressed  as  in  the 
Apocryphal  Book  of  Ben  Siracli: 

Let  us  now  praise  famous  men. 
Even  the  artificer  and  workmaster 
That  passeth  his  time  by  night  as  by  day; 
And  is  wakeful  to  finish  his  work. 
So   is   the   smith   sitting   by   the   anvil, 
And  considering  the  unwrou'^ht  iron: 
The  vapor  of  the  fire  wastetli  his  flesh, 
And  hi  the  heat  of  the  furnace  doth  he 
wrestle  with  his  work. 


88 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


All  these  put  their  trust  in  their  hands, 
And  each  beconieth  wise  in  his  own  work» 
Yea,  though  they  be  not  sought  for  in 

the  council  of  the  people, 
Nor  be  exalted  in  the  assembly; 
Yet  without   these  shall  not  a  city  be 

inhabited. 
Nor  shall  men  sojourn  or  walk  up  and 

down  therein. 

For   these    mahitain    the    fabric   of    the 
world. 

And  in  the  handiwork  of  their  craft  is 
their  prayer. 

Any  system  of  industry  and  indus- 
trial management  that  robs  men  of 
this  sense  of  pride  and  joy  in  their  own 
work  and  that  fails  to  kindle  in  them 
the  creative  instinct  and  to  inspire 
them  with  the  service  they  are  render- 
ing society  is  contrary-  to  the  teachings 
of  the  Jewish  faith. 

Fairness 

The  injunction  against  false  balan- 
ces, many  times  repeated  in  the  codes 
of  Israel,  contains  the  fifth  principle 
that  applies  to  industr>\     There  must 
be  no  defrauding,  no  exploitation,  no 
profiteering.     The  consumer  must  be 
protected    against    the    greed    of    the 
manufacturer  and  the  merchant.     The 
coal  industry  is  here  an  illustration. 
It  is  diflScult  to  ascertain  the  facts  at 
present,  but  this  much  is  clear,  that 
those  who  control  the  mining  and  the 
transportation  and  the  distribution  of 
coal  as  a  commodity  have  multiplied 
the  unnecessary  stages  through  which 
it  must  pass  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
increase  in  cost  between  the  mine  and 
the    household    is    nothing   less    than 
exploitation    and    robbery.     The    dif- 
ference between  the  cost  of  mining  a 
ton  of  coal  and  the  cost  of  delivery  at 
the  liousehold  cannot  be  explained  in 
any  other  manner.     It  is  a  common 
excuse  of  tj^t^  coal  operators  and  their 
associates  that  the  increase  in  cost  is 
chargeable  to  labor.   To  charge  the  cost 
of  coal  to  labor  is  an  unwarrantable 


deception  on  the  part  of  the  operators. 
When  labor  is  granted  or  wins  an 
increase  of  10  per  cent  in  wjiges,  the 
coal  operators  and  the  merchants  add 
30  per  cent  or  40  per  cent  to  the  cost 
of  coal.  A  fair  charge  for  service  is 
reasonable  and  right,  but  an  artificial 
and  extortionate  charge  is  a  gross 
violation  of  the  teaching  of  Judaism. 

Common  Ownership 

In  the  prophetic  passage  "Woe  to 
those  who  join  house  to  house  and  lay 
field  unto  field"  is  expressed  the  sixth 
principle    that    we    emphasize.     This 
passage  is  often  quoted  as  a  protest 
against  monopoly,  and  that  it  is;  but 
to  those  acquainted  with  the  history  of 
property  and  property  rights  in  Israel, 
it  contains  a  vaster  message.    The  early 
Hebrews  did  not  believe  in  the  private 
ownership  of  land  and  water  sources 
of  food  supply.     No  individual  could 
claim   title  to  the  pasture  land,   the 
wells  and  springs  and  the  trees  from* 
which    the    community    as    a    whole 
nourished  itself.     The  title  rested  not 
with  man  but  with  God.     The  earth 
is  the  Lord's  and  all  that  is  therein. 
Man  is  merely  the  trustee  and  custo- 
dian of  what  he  holds.     The  resources 
of  the  world,  in  other  words,  must  be 
used  not  selfishly  for  the  enrichment 
of  a  few,  but  wisely  in  the  service  of  all. 
The  machinations  of  small  groups  to- 
day to  control  the  wealth  of  the  earth 
is  contrary  to  the  highest  teachings  of 
Judaism.     One-tenth   of   the   popula- 
tion must  not  possess  nine-tenths  of 
the    treasures    of    the    world.     The 
community  as  a  whole  must  own  and 
control  those  great  reservoirs  of  wealth 
upon   which   all   men   are   ultimately 
dependent    for    their    existence    and 
progress. 

A  fundamental  error  of  the  present 
day  is  that  we  are  organizing  industry 
in  accordance  with  the  so-called  laws 
of  economics  rather  than  in  keeping 


t..^^ 


Judaism  and  the  Industrial  Crisis 


89 


with  the  principles  of  ethics.  We 
are  still  under  the  unhappy  spell  of 
the  teachings  of  the  economists  of  the 
last  generation.  Francis  Walker  in 
his  Political  Economy,  a  book  that 
became  the  economic  Bible  of  those 
in  control  of  our  economic  life,  says 
quite  frankly:  "The  boundary  line 
between  ethical  and  economic  inquiry 
is  perfectly  clear.  The  economist,  as 
such,  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
question  whether  existing  institutions 
are  right  or  wrong."  Judaism  does 
not  accept  this  teaching.  We  do  not 
admit  that  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand  is  the  last  word  in  business 
and  industry.  It  leads  to  unjust 
prices  and  to  exploitation.  No  law 
can  be  final  that  leads  to  injustice. 
Judaism  does  not  accept  the  doctrine 
of  competition.  It  leads  to  unnec- 
essary and  unworthy  struggle  and 
strife  and  suffering  in  human  relation- 
ships. Men  are  not  to  compete  with 
"i^ach  other  for  personal  gain,  but  are 
to  cooperate  with  each  other  for  the 
common  good.  The  whole  science  of 
economics  needs  to  be  reconstructed 
in  accordance  with  ethics  before  it 
can  serve  as  a  guide  in  industry  and 
commerce  and  finance.     Judaism  in- 


sists and  has  never  ceased  to  teach 
the  truth  that  not  economics  but 
ethics  constitute  the  organic  law  of 
social  life. 

Religion 

The  ultimate  test  of  industry,  Juda- 
ism teaches,  is  religious.  How  far 
and  how  fast  does  our  present  indus- 
trial system  further  the  Kingdom  of 
God.^^  How  fast  is  it  inaugurating 
the  age  when  injustice  and  oppression 
and  misery  will  no  longer  be  a  part  of 
our  social  life.'^  How^  far  is  it  advanc- 
ing the  new  order  when  every  man, 
woman  and  child  will  rejoice  in  the 
fullness  of  strength,  the  widest  devel- 
opment of  mind  and  the  highest  cul- 
tivation of  the  spirit?  This  function 
industry  cannot  achieve  until  it  organ- 
izes to  do  tw^o  things:  First,  to  ade- 
quately maintain  all  those  who  labor, 
for  the  first  charge  upon  industry  is 
not  dividends  but  the  welfare  of  the 
workers;  second,  to  serve  society,  for 
the  primary  purpose  of  industry  is 
not  to  create  profits  but  to  meet  the 
needs  of  men,  to  free  them  and  to 
equip  them  for  the  larger  life  that  is 
to  be  shared  by  all  those  who  enter 
the  Kingdom  of  God. 


V 


'J'. ...  ;;.S3r««,jju«J'™-' 


A  Churchman's  View  of  the  Church's  Function 

By  Frederic  Cook  Morehouse,  Litt.D. 

Editor,  The  Living  Church 


THE  Church  stands  unqualifiedly 
for  social  justice.  Of  this  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  I  like  the  form  in 
which  this  was  affirmed  by  joint 
resolution  of  the  General  Convention 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  1913: 

Whereas,  The  moral  and  spiritual  wel- 
fare of  the  people  demands  that  the  highest 
possible  standard  of  living  should  every- 
where be  maintained,  and  that  all  conduct 
of  industry  should  emphasize  the  search  for 
such  higher  and  more  human  forms  and 
organization  as  will  genuinely  elicit  the 
personal  initiative  and  self-respect  of  the 
workman,  and  give  him  a  definite  personal 
stake  in  the  system  of  production  to  which 
his  life  is  given;  and 

WTiereas,  Injustice  and  disproportion- 
ate inequality  as  well  as  misunderstanding, 
prejudice,  and  mutual  distrust  as  between 
employer  and  employee  are  widespread  in 
our  social  and  industrial  life  today; 

Therefore  be  it  Resolved,  the  House  of 
Bishops  concurring.  That  we  the  members 
of  the  General  Convention  of  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church  do  hereby  affirm  that 
the  Church  stands  for  the  ideal  of  social 
justice,  and  that  it  demands  the  achieve- 
ment of  a  social  order  in  which  the  social 
cause  of  poverty  and  the  gross  human  waste 
of  the  present  order  shall  be  eliminated,  and 
in  which  every  worker  shall  have  a  just  re- 
turn for  that  which  he  produces,  a  free  op- 
portunity for  self-development,  and  a  fair 
share  in  all  the  gains  of  progress.  And 
since  such  a  social  order  can  only  be 
achieved  progressively  by  the  effort  of  men 
and  women  who  in  the  spirit  of  Christ  put 
the  common  welfare  above  private  gain,  the 
Church  calls  upon  every  communicant, 
clerical  and  lay,  seriously  to  take  part  in 
the  study  of  the  complex  conditions  under 
which  we  are  called  upon  to  live,  and  so  to 
act  that  the  present  prejudice  and  injustice 
may  be  supplanted  by  mutual  understand- 
ing, sympathy  and  just  dealings,  and  the 
ideal  of  thorough-going  democracy  may  be 
finally  reahzed  in  our  land. 


When  we  come  to  the  application 
of  this  principle,  however,  we  find  our- 
selves in  many  difficulties.  To  apply 
justice  between  man  and  man  is  the 
fimction  of  our  courts,  and  they  per- 
form that  function  reasonably  well. 
To  apply  it  between  great  classes  of 
our  j)opulation  has  seemed  thus  far  not 
to  be  the  function  of  anv  machinerv 
created  as  yet  in  our  government. 
Attempts  have  been  made  to  create 
such  machinery,  as  in  the  courts  of 
industrial  relations  in  Kansas.  In 
grave  industrial  crises  there  has  been 
intervention  of  the  executive  arm  of 
the  government,  as  in  the  issues  per- 
taining to  railroads  and  to  the  pro- 
duction of  coal.  Yet  the  fact  remains 
that  the  solution  has  not  been  found. 
Many  of  us  had  hoped  that  the  Kansai^ 
law  had  solved  the  problem,  and  when 
the  labor  imions  rejected  it  as  a  peace- 
ful solution  and  have  submitted  only 
under  coercion,  we  have  been  intensely 
disappointed.  It  is  to  the  interest  of 
labor  quite  as  truly  as  to  that  of 
capital  and  that  of  the  public  that 
clashes  between  employer  and  em- 
ployed should  be  prevented. 

What  the  Church  Cannot  Do 

WTiat  is  the  function  of  the  Church 
in  this  impasse?  Let  us  first  eliminate 
certain  things  that  the  Church  cannot 
rightly  be  expected  to  do. 

The  Church  cannot  create  machinery 
for  the  State. — Urgently  desiring  that 
there  be  created  for  use  between 
classes  the  equivalent  of  the  courts  in 
their  authoritative  adjudication  be- 
tween the  rights  of  individuals,  it  is 
the  function  of  the  State,  and  not  of 
the  Church,  to  create  such  an  equiva- 
lent.    We  cannot  turn  back  the  pages 


A  Churchman's  View  of  the  Church's  Function 


91 


90 


of  history.     If  this  were  the  day  when 
the    Church   was   organically   united, 
when  its  own  courts  had  jurisdiction 
over  moral  questions,  when  the  whole 
population .  accepted  the  authority  of 
the    Church,    and    when    the    State 
backed   up   the   decisions   of   Church 
courts    by    coercive    legislation,    the 
responsibility   for   creating   such   ma- 
chinery might  conceivably  be  placed 
upon  the  Church.     Academically  there 
is  something  to  be  said  for  such  a  po- 
sition.    When  the  Church  was  united, 
her  moral  theology^  contained  the  solu- 
tion of  every  moral  question  that  could 
arise.     In    the    thirteenth    and    four- 
teenth   centuries    tlie    Church    would 
have  grappled  with  such  questions  as 
now  perplex  us  in  our  industrial  rela- 
tions, and  would  have  worked  out  the 
solution  as  a  problem  in  morals.   That 
solution  would  have  been  final  in  the 
forum    of    conscience    and    enforced 
through  the  confessional;  and  it  would 
li^ve  been  final  in  law  and  enforced 
through    the    courts.     Thus,    if    the 
Church  were  organically  united  and 
her   authority   was   accepted   by   the 
whole  people,  duties  could  be  laid  upon 
her  that  cannot  be  under  twentieth 
century  conditions  and  the  American 
constitution. 

This  is  so  obvious  when  stated  that 
it  seems  scarcely  worth  recording. 
And  yet  we  find  about  us  constantly 
the  allegation  that  the  Church  is  recal- 
citrant, if,  indeed, it  be  not  charged  that 
the  Church  has  failed,  because  she  has 
not  solved  the  problem.  Curiously 
enough,  too,  the  charge  is  generally 
made  by  the  very  people  who  are  most 
emphatic  in  demanding  the  complete 
separation  between  Church  and  State. 
Now^  if  that  separation  is  to  be  main- 
tained— and  all  of  us  are  determined 
that  it  shall  be — the  Church  must  not 
be  blamed  for  declining  to  assume  any 
y  part  of  the  responsibility  that  she  would 
have  assumed,  as  a  matter  of  course, 


X 


six  centuries  ago.  The  State,  not  the 
Church,  must  create  the  machinery 
for  harmonizing  the  differences  be- 
tween capital,  labor  and  the  public. 
The  Church  cannot  be  made  the  advo- 
cate for  one  class  of  people  as  distin- 
guished from  another  class. — Here, 
again,  there  is  constantly  the  assump- 
tion made  to  the  contrary.  We  are 
told  that  the  Church  is  a  "bulwark  of 
capitalism."  We  are  admonished  that 
it  must  be  made  the  "friend  of  labor." 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  charge  is  un- 
true and  the  admonition  unwise  except 
to  the  extent  that  the  Church  must 
be  the  friend — because  its  true  relation 
should  be  that  of  spiritual  mother — to 
everybody. 

The  one  thing  that  the  Church  may 
not  do  is  to  divide  men  into  classes  and 
to    sympathize    with    the    one    class 
rather  than  with  the  other.     Indeed 
the  Church  knows  and  must  know  no 
distinction  between  her  children.  Long 
before  democracy  was  dreamed  of  in 
the  State,  the  Church  was  practising 
it  as  a  matter  of  course.     In  mediaeval 
centuries,  when  autocracy  was  at  its 
worst,  the  peasant's  son  could  become 
pope,  and  so  occupy  a  position  higher 
than  that  of  emperor.     The  Church 
should  know  no  caste  distinctions;  and 
the  caste  of  capitalist  or  of  organized 
labor  is  not  one  whit  better  than  that 
of  feudal  lord  or  of  landed  aristocracy. 
Well  wrote  good  Bishop  Coxe  a  half 
century  ago : 

Our  mother  the  Church  hath  never  a  child 

To  honour  before  the  rest. 
But  she  singeth  the  same  for  mighty  kings 

And  the  veriest  babe  on  her  breast; 
And  the  Bishop  goes  down  to  his  narrow 
bed 

As  the  ploughman's  child  is  laid. 
And  alike  she  blesseth  the  dark-browed 
serf 

And  the  chief  in  his  robe  arrayed. 

The  Church  cannot  become  the  prop- 
agandist   for    any    social   or   political 


92 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


program. — It  is  difficult  for  many  to 
see  why.  On  what  they  deem  to  be 
sufficient  reasoning,  they  accept  for 
themselves  certain  policies  or  programs 
which  thev  believe  essential  for  the 
w^ell-being  of  the  nation — socialism 
or  anti-socialism,  the  single  tax,  or- 
ganized labor,  sovietism,  prohibition, 
or  any  other  program,  good  or  bad, 
wise  or  unwise.  Believing  in  such  a 
program  themselves,  they  assume  that 
their  reasoning  should  also  be  that  of 
the  Chiu'ch,  and  that  the  Church 
should  be  committed  to  it.  On  the 
contrary  it  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of  the 
Church  to  sanction  particular  pro- 
grams looking  even  to  better  social 
conditions.  Her  part  is  to  proclaim 
principles  and  leave  to  the  State, 
which,  ideally,  would  mean  her  own 
enlightened  children  functioning  in 
another  sphere,  the  formulation  of 
those  principles  in  a  program  or 
policy.  So  also  the  Church  cannot 
attempt  to  suggest  how  her  own 
children  should  vote. 

What  the  Church  Can  Do 

Having  thus  eliminated  certain 
things  that  the  Church  cannot  or  ought 
not  to  do,  let  us  seek  to  discover  what 
is  the  Church's  function  in  relation  to 
industry. 

The  Church  should  impress  the  sense 
of  personal  responsibility  alike  upon 
employers  and  upon  employees. — Men 
are  created  as  units  and  as  units  they 
will  be  judged.  They  cannot  merge 
their  personality  into  a  group  nor  their 
personal  responsibility  into  group  re- 
sponsibility. WTiere  the  collective  "em- 
ployer" is  an  almost  infinite  number  of 
small  stockholders  it  is  not  easy  for 
anv  one  of  them  to  exercise  or  even  to 
visualize  his  responsibility.  No  doubt 
that  responsibility  is  limited,  in  the 
sight  of  God,  by  his  opportunity  to 
exercise  the  small  modicum  of  influence 
that  he  has.     In  such  corporations  it 


may  perhaps  be  said  that  the  corpo- 
rate conscience  will  function  in  the 
directorate  rather  than  among  the 
stockholders.  But  the  directors  cer- 
tainly, and  the  stockholders  where 
they  have  the  opportunity,  must  ac- 
count as  individuals  for  the  manner  in 
which  the  corporation  is  administered 
with  relation  both  to  employees  and 
to  the  public.  The  fundamental  diffi- 
culty in  applying  Christian  principles 
to  corporation  activities  is  the  im- 
personal character  of  the  latter.  But 
impersonality  cannot  be  permitted  in 
the  realm  of  social  or  moral  activity. 
There  is  not  an  abuse  in  all  industry 
for  which  personal  action  or  personal 
neglect  is  not  responsible. 

This  applies  quite  as  truly  to  the 
employee   as   to   tlie   employer.     The 
former  cannot  merge  his  responsibility 
into   that  of  his   union.     Indeed   the 
abuses    in    the    labor    union    system, 
which  at  the  present  time  seem  to  be 
dragging  the  whole  body  of  organized 
labor  down  to  destruction,  would  very 
largely   be   obviated   if   it   were   well 
known  that  honorable  men  in  a  union 
would  withdraw  in  a  body  if  the  union 
should   be   committed   by   those   who 
manage  its  affairs  to  dishonorable  or 
improper   actions.     As  one  reads  the 
shameful  story  of  iniion  after  union, 
such  as  has  lately  been  revealed   in 
New  York  and  in  Chicago,  he  wonders 
what  can  be  the  secret  of  that  false 
loyalty  that  prevents  honorable  men 
among    their    membership    from    de- 
nouncing the  things  that  are  done  in 
the    name    of    the    union,    which    is 
equivalent  to  saying  in  the  name  of 
all  and  of  each  of  its  members  indi- 
vidually.    The  labor  union  cannot  be 
saved  unless  honorable  men  belonging 
to  it  make  it  perfectly  clear  that  they 
will  not  stand  for  dishonorable  tactics; 
that    they   will    themselves  withdraw 
from    unions    that    are    dishonorably 
managed.     For  one  man  to  adojit  this 


A  Churchman's  View  of  the  Church's  Function 


93 


y 


X 


attitude  would  mean  his  martyrdom; 
for  the  whole  body  of  honorable  men 
in  a  union  to  do  so  would  be  the 
salvation  of  ori=janized  labor.  Honor- 
able  men  of  the  unions  who  are 
acquiescing  in  dishonorable  manage- 
ment are  guilty  before  God  and  men 
of  the  crimes  or  misdemeanors  that  the 
union  collectively  commits,  while  thej^ 
must  also  assume  the  chief  responsi- 
bility for  the  inevitable  downfall  of 
the  union  system  which  must  ensue  if 
their  own  culpable  irresponsibility 
becomes  general.  The  Church  cannot 
perform  a  more  wholesome  function  in 
the  realm  of  industry  than  that  of 
making  concrete  the  teaching  that 
individuals,  whether  as  directors  of  a 
corporation  or  as  members  of  a  union, 
must  assume  responsibility  for  the 
actions  of  the  group. 

The  Church  should  define  moral  issues 
connected  udth  industry. — We  sadly 
need  a  moral  theology  brought  up  to 
date.  The  Church  has  a  definite 
answer  to  all  the  moral  problems  that 
relate  to  purely  individual  activities. 
It  has  no  definite  answer  to  the  prob- 
lems that  grow  out  of  the  collective 
activities  of  the  present  day.  Funda- 
mental principles  are  the  same,  but 
the  application  of  those  principles  to 
industrial  problems  is  frequently  not 
clear.  It  is  true  that  there  is  an  in- 
creasing literature  on  the  subject,  but 
the  Church  seems  not  to  have  learned 
how  to  use  that  literature.  Even  in 
the  Chiu-ches  that  practice  private 
confession  before  a  priest,  I  doubt 
whether  the  sins  of  the  individual  that 
are  committed  in  the  realm  of  his 
collective  life— in  the  corporation,  in 
the  union,  in  society  generally — are 
treated  intelligently  or  uniformly  by 
him  who  pronounces  or  withholds 
absolution.  And  who  can  confess  a 
sin  unless  his  refined  conscience  con- 
victs him  of  it.^  The  real  difficulty  is 
that  nowhere  in  organized  Christian- 


ity, so  far  as  I  can  discover,  is  there, 
in  general,  a  pastoral  teaching  such  as 
will  guide  the  layman  in  his  corporate 
responsibilities,  nor  a  standard  held 
up  by  which  he  can  test  his  own  life. 
When  we  view  such  colossal  illustra- 
tions of  sin  someirherc  as  we  have  in 
the  West  Virginia  coal  field,  be  the 
responsibility  where  it  may,  and  then 
realize  that  among  both  operators  and 
workers  there  must  be  no  inconsider- 
able number  of  Christian  men  who 
earnestly  long  for  a  guidance  that  the 
Church  is  not  giving  them,  we  see 
what  serious  results  follow  this  failure 
of  the  Chiu-ch  to  develoj)  a  satisfactory 
moral  theology  pertaining  to  the  realm 
of  industry.  Even  the  sermons  that 
we  occasionally  hear  on  industrial 
topics  seldom  do  more  than  show  the 
amateur  thinking  of  the  preacher  who, 
in  the  absence  of  authoritative  text 
books,  cannot  give  that  helpful  guid- 
ance which  the  people  would  welcome. 
No  Savonarola  arises  to  interpret  a 
"Thus  saith  the  Lord "  to  the  twentieth 
century,  and  the  questions  are  too  deep 
and  too  intricate  for  a  parish  priest 
or  local  minister  to  answer  from  an 
inner  consciousness  that  has  not  been 
schooled  in  the  detail  of  the  problems. 
Yes,  we  urgently  need  the  guidance 
of  the  Church  in  industrial  problems. 
But  on  the  other  hand  I  question  the 
value  of  the  inquiries  into  concrete 
occurrences — particular  strikes  or  other 
disturbances — and  the  taking  of  sides, 
that  some  of  our  national  religious 
bodies  are  doing.  If  it  were  the 
function  of  the  Church  to  determine 
which  party  is  right  and  which  wrong 
in  any  disturbance,  it  would  become 
the  duty  of  the  Church  to  create  a 
judicial  machinery  such  as  would  ena- 
ble her  to  fulfill  that  duty  adequately. 
It  would  be  essential  that  competent, 
trained  judges  should  hear  each  of  the 
parties  to  the  dispute,  should  weigh 
very  carefully  the  evidence,  and  should 


■W^f*^ 


94 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


then  pronounce  judgment  after  the 
manner  of  the  courts  of  the  land.  True, 
the  Church  performed  similar  judi- 
cial functions  in  the  middle  ages.  But 
those  who  believe  she  ought  to  do  so 
now  shoidd  reflect  that  fourteenth 
century  conditions  have  passed  away. 
The  Church  is  no  longer  one.  She  no 
longer  enjoys  the  allegiance  or  the 
confidence  of  the  whole  people.  She 
can  set  up  no  tribunal  which  would  be 
accepted  by  both  parties  at  issue.  She 
cannot  subpoena  witnesses  nor  provide 
for  the  proper  examination  and  cross 
examination  of  those  who  voluntarily 
offer  their  testimony.  In  short,  the 
Church  neither  has  nor  can  create  the 
machinery  which  would  permit  her  to 
perform  a  judicial  function  with  re- 
spect to  specific  issues,  we  will  say  in 
West  Virginia  or  in  Pittsburgh. 

In  the  absence  of  such  machinery  we 
find  that  certain  of  our  social  service 
organizations,  representing  a  greater  or 
less  portion  of  the  Christian  Church, 
are  performing  functions  of  inquiry  as 
to  the  facts  in  particular  disputes, 
making  their  own  deductions  concern- 
ing them,  and  publishing  the  result 
from  time  to  time.  Will  I  seem  im- 
appreciative  of  their  good  intentions 
when  I  say  that,  in  my  judgment, 
these  inquiries  and  conclusions  are  a 
chief  embarrassment  to  the  Church  in 
performing  her  social  duty  adequately.'^ 

For  see  how  much  is  involved.  We 
have  already  explained  why  the  Church 
cannot  perform  a  judicial  function 
with  respect  to  such  disputes.  The 
inquiry  that  may  be  made  by  various 
boards,  then,  becomes  altogether  in- 
adequate. They  do  not  establish  all 
the  facts.  They  gather  many  facts, 
indeed,  but  lacking  the  opportunity  to 
correlate  them  properly,  because  cer- 
tain of  the  facts  are  lacking,  their 
conclusions  are  inadequate.  Neither 
among  employers  nor  among  employees 
do  we  find,  in  fact,  great  respect  for 


the  conclusions  that  these  ecclesiastical 
bodies  have  formulated  from  time  to 
time;  and  since  these  conclusions  pur- 
port, to  some  extent,  to  be  the  voice  of 
the  Church,  those  who  fail  to  pay  the 
highest  respect  to  them  are  necessarily 
placed  in  a  position  of  antagonism  to 
that  very  spiritual  organism  whose  real 
guidance  they  would  profoundly  wel- 
come. I  wish  I  could  think  that  the 
cause  of  justice  is  forwarded  by  these 
special  inquiries.  I  do  not.  I  believe, 
rather,  that  the  influence  which  the 
Church  might  have  by  laying  stress 
upon  principles  of  conduct  is  weak- 
ened, if  not  wholly  lost,  when  her 
official  bodies  assume  to  themselves 
the  function  of  grand  juries  or  of 
judges. 

On  the  other  hand  I  believe  that  such 
inquiries  are  useful  when  they  proceed 
from  disinterested  secular  sources. 
The  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  and 
similar  institutions,  have  an  opportu- 
nity in  connection  with  industrial  dis- 
turbances that  does  not  conflict  with 
fundamental  duties.  The  difference 
between  inquiry  by  such  an  institution 
and  that  by  an  official  body  of  the 
Church  is  that  the  former  has  no  claim 
on  the  allegiance  of  parties  to  the  dis- 
pute; the  latter  has.  The  former  can 
make  suggestions,  can  even  err,  and  not 
commit  others  than  their  own  few  mem- 
bers to  those  suggestions  or  those  er- 
rors; the  latter  cannot.  It  is  much  less 
serious  for  a  voluntarily  formed  foun- 
dation to  intervene  in  industrial  dis- 
putes and,  possibly,  to  err  in  its  con- 
clusions or  in  its  advice,  than  for  the 
Church  to  do  the  same  thing.  For 
after  all,  the  Church  is  you  and  me,  the 
employer  and  the  employed,  not  as 
individuals,  but  as  knit  into  the  mysti- 
cal Body  of  Christ  our  Lord.  If  He, 
our  Head  and  our  Source  of  spiritual 
life,  had  desired  that  each  local  branch 
or  board  or  commission  representing 
some  small  part  of  the  Christian  Church 


A  Churchman's  View  of  the  Church's  Function 


95 


-X 


• 

should  have  a  supernatural  illumina- 
tion in  dealing  with  such  matters,  in 
measure  beyond  what  may  be  possessed 
by  secular  foundations.  He  would  have 
made  the  possession  of  that  faculty 
perfectly  clear  to  the  world,  and  the 
findings  of  such  ecclesiastical  bodies 
would,  long  before  this,  have  solved  the 
problems  of  industry.  In  fact,  how- 
ever, one's  Christian  humility  need  not 
be  developed  to  an  extraordinary  degree 
in  order  that  he  may  perceive  that,  on 
the  whole,  the  published  results  of 
various  inquiries  by  ecclesiastical  bodies 
have  not  been  marked  by  greater  wis- 
dom, nor  have  they  approached  greater 
inerrancy,  than  the  inquiries  of  wholly 
secular  tribunals. 

The  Church  should  be  absolutely  non- 
partisan as  between  disputants. — Here 
is  the  crux  of  the  difiiculty.  In  the 
world  we  have  the  unhappy  condi- 
tion that  when  an  industrial  disturb- 
ance occurs,  one  part  of  mankind  im- 
mediately gives  his  sympathy  to  the 
emplo3-ers  and  another  part  to  the  em- 
ployees, though  neither  is  in  a  position 
to  base  his  sympathy  on  an  intelligent 
knowledge  of  the  rights  and  wrongs  of 
the  case.  This  is  tolerable,  though 
illogical,  in  an  individual;  it  is  intoler- 
able for  the  Church.  Neither  employ- 
ers nor  employed  have,  as  a  class,  so 
universally  good  a  record  as  to  entitle 
them  to  the  presumption  of  innocence 
when  a  clash  occurs.  The  fallacy  of 
catch-questions  that  are  often  asked,  as 
though  the  answers  to  them  were  the 
chief  factors  in  determining  disputes,  is 
past  belief.  Of  course  labor  has  the 
right  to  organize;  so  has  capital.  Of 
course  collective  bargaining  is  a  legiti- 
mate right,  and  it  makes  it  quite  as 
wrong  for  the  one  party  as  for  the  other 
to  deliver  an  ultimatum  which  it  will 


neither  discuss  nor  arbitrate.  Of  course 
arbitration  is  the  sensible  method  by 
which  to  determine  questions  at  issue, 
and  sometimes  it  is  one  party  and 
sometimes  the  other  that  refuses  to 
arbitrate.  Of  course  graft,  and  black- 
mail, and  insolence,  and  hypocrisy,  and 
double  dealing,  and  intimidation,  and 
slugging  are  wrong;  and  each  of  them  is 
just  as  wrong  on  the  one  side  as  on  tlie 
other.  Yet  when  an  industrial  clash 
occurs,  these  various  matters  of  course 
do  not  afford  the  slightest  clue  to  the 
right  or  wrong  that  is  immediately  at 
stake.  An  individual  has  no  right  to 
give  his  sympathies  to  either  side  unless 
he  has  knowledge  of  the  facts  in  the 
case,  and  the  Church  must  not  do  so. 
It  is  better  that  the  Church  should  not 
formally  or  officially  take  cognizance 
of  the  dispute  at  all,  but  should  en- 
courage employer  and  striker  to  kneel 
reverently  before  the  same  altar,  while 
the  Church  proclaims  to  each  and  to 
both  the  immutable  laws  of  right  and 
wrong. 

So  I  conclude  this  essay  with  three 
negative  and  three  positive  proposi- 
tions. Together,  they  are  but  ap- 
proaches to  a  subject  whose  very  vast- 
ness  appalls  the  serious  student.  The 
industrial  issues  of  today  are  too  new, 
as  well  as  too  complicated,  for  the 
Church  to  have  had  the  opportunity  of 
formulating  a  definite,  unalterable 
program.  We  are  still  in  the  stage  of 
inquiry,  which  must  always  precede 
conclusion. 

It  is  helpful  always  for  the  Church  to 
participate  in  such  inquiry  and  to  en- 
courage her  children  to  study  the  prob- 
lems. It  is  perilous  for  her  to  fulmi- 
nate conclusions  otherwise  than  on  the 
immutable  principles  of  right  and 
wrong. 


V 


SS^Si 


jm^^i^i » 


—JWf 


The  Church  in  Industry 


97 


The  Function  of  the  Church  in  Industry 

By  Rev.  Harry  F.  Ward 

Secretary,  The  Methodist  Federation  for  Social  Service 


IN  relation  to  industry  the  Church 
performs  a  threefold  function: 
It  is  the  teacher  of  the  principles  of 

conduct; 

It  is  the  voice  of  moral  judgment; 
It  is  the  herald  of  a  new  order. 

Whatever  form  the  Church  takes,  it 
always  fulfills  in  some  degree  this  three- 
fold function,  save  for  those  temporary 
groupings  whose  members  vainly  seek 
to  evade  the  diflSculties  of  this  present 
life  by  turning  their  eyes  constantly 
toward  a  future  state  of  their  own 
imagining. 

In  this  discussion  the  term  *' indus- 
try" means  something  more  than 
organized  manufacturing.  Because 
of  the  well-nigh  universal  presence  and 
influence  of  the  machine,  industry  now 
means  all  those  relationships  of  eco- 
nomic activity  which  are  both  the 
essentials  of  human  existence  and  the 
means  to  culture.  This  coal  and  iron 
age  has  given  these  relationships  so 
large  a  place  in  life  that  the  religious 
organization  which  ignores  or  neglects 
them  will  engage  men  for  but  an  aes- 
thetic interlude  in  more  urgent  affairs 
or  for  a  fleeting  moment  as  they  make 
their  exit  from  this  world. 

In  the  teachings  concerning  the  way 
of  life  which  the  Church  has  undertaken 
to  spread  throughout  the  world,  there 
are  to  be  found  three  fundamental 
principles  of  social  organization;  the 
supremacy  of  personality,  the  necessity 
of  brotherhood,  the  obligation  of  serv- 
ice. These  principles  have  emerged  in 
the  long  social  experience  of  mankind. 
They  represent  struggle  and  achieve- 
ment as  well  as  hope  and  faith.  They 
have  been  paid  for  with  a  great  price. 
Upon  them  religion  sets  its  sanction, 


declaring  them  to  represent  the  nature 
and  purpose  of  God,  asserting  that  by 
them  man  must  live  if  he  would  have 
fellowship  with  the  Eternal. 

These  principles  are  generally  ac- 
cepted among  us.  To  them  most  men 
render  lip  service,  if  nothing  more. 
Yet  it  is  notorious  that  they  do  not 
control  the  industrial  order,  whose 
basic  principles  of  organization  are  the 
supremacy  of  property,  the  necessity 
of  self-interest  and  the  obligation  of 
profit,  so  that  personality,  brother- 
hood, and  service  have  continually  to 
struggle  for  their  life.  This  conflict  be- 
tween Christian  teaching  and  industrial 
practice  is  straining  modern  life  to  the 
breaking  point,  because  it  is  at  bottom 
a  contest  between  the  forces  of  life  and 
the  germs  of  decay  for  control  of  the 
body  politic.  Industrial  civilization, 
just  growing  into  self-consciousness,  is 
now  choosing  to  which  of  these  two  sets 
of  principles  it  will  entrust  the  domi- 
nance of  its  collective  life.  Which  shall 
be  master  and  which  servant?  As  his- 
tory demonstrates,  it  is  the  choice  be- 
tween the  way  of  life  and  the  way  of 
death  for  organized  humanity. 

In  such  a  pass,  in  what  grouping  of 
its  varied  life  shall  mankind  learn  what 
principles  of  conduct  make  for  a  con- 
tinuing social  order?  In  the  State — • 
from  the  voices  of  officeholders  touched 
of  necessity  with  the  infirmity  of  op- 
portunism? In  industry — from  cap- 
tains of  finance  or  leaders  of  labor 
caught  in  the  toils  of  a  warfare  of  sec- 
tional interests?  In  science— from 
economists,  sociologists,  technicians, 
trained  as  specialists  in  one  field  of  re- 
search, one  segment  of  life?  To  each 
of  these  his  task,  and  from  each  his 


96 


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contribution,  but  to  the  Church  falls 
the  duty  of  coordinating  the  capacities 
and  achievements  of  all  these  fellow- 
workers,  of  adding  to  this  common 
counsel  the  sanction  and  the  dynamic 
which  come  only  when  men  contem- 
plate their  duty  and  the  possibilities  of 
mankind  sub  specie  aeternitatis  and  also 
sub  specie  communitatis. 

The  Objective  of  the  Church 

As  the  Church  attempts  to  get 
translated  into  terms  of  organized  life 
principles  which  are  generally  accepted 
as  desirable,  it  becomes  evident  that  its 
educational  objective  is  twofold.  It 
seeks  to  get  people  who  live  in  a  world 
where  points  of  views  are  continually 
determined  by  property,  self-interest 
and  profit,  to  take  their  attitudes  and 
form  their  judgments  in  terms  of  per- 
sonality, brotherhood  and  service. 
It  also  seeks  to  get  people  to  express 
these  principles  in  concrete  acts,  meas- 
ures and  policies.  The  former  is 
mainly  the  task  of  the  pulpit,  the  latter 
of  the  discussion  group.  It  is  the 
preaching  function  of  the  Church,  both 
in  individual  and  collective  utterance, 
to  show  men  what  industrial  life  means 
and  ought  to  mean,  by  lifting  them  out 
of  the  narrow  interests  and  temporary 
conflicts  of  the  moment  into  the  larger 
atmosphere  of  universal  and  abiding 
principles.  It  is  through  the  other 
teaching  agencies  of  the  Church,  in  dis- 
cussion groups  in  which  people  of 
varied  training  and  interests  partici- 
pate, that  agreement  may  be  reached 
as  to  what  concrete  acts,  measures  and 
policies  sufficiently  express  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christian  teaching  to  require 
for  them  the  support  of  church  mem- 
bers as  a  religious  duty. 

This  is  the  way  in  which  the  churches 
have  been  proceeding.  The  growing 
body  of  educational  material  which 
they  have  put  out  in  this  field,  and  the 
statements  adopted  by  various  eccle- 

8 


siastical  bodies,  both  formulate  general 
standards  of  industrial  action  as  pres- 
ent expressions  of  the  basic  principles 
of  Christianity  and  also  specify  certain 
measures  which  are  to  be  supported  as 
more  or  less  satisfactory  expressions  of 
these  standards.  For  example,  prac- 
tically all  church  authorities  have  de- 
clared that  the  Christian  concept  of 
the  nature  and  worth  of  personality  de- 
mands that  the  first  charge  upon  any 
industrial  undertaking  is  the  adequate 
support  of  those  actually  engaged  in  it, 
and  urge  their  constituents  to  work  in 
various  ways  for  a  living  wage  as  a 
minimum.  In  like  manner,  they  insist 
that  the  necessity  of  brotherhood  be 
applied  to  the  distribution  of  wealth. 
They  ask  what  economic  necessity  re- 
quires luxury  to  continue  to  increase 
and  capital  to  multiply,  while  wages 
are  being  cut  and  the  standard  of  living 
lowered  for  large  numbers  of  people? 
Similarly  these  church  utterances 
point  out  that  when  Christians  talk  of 
the  obligation  to  service,  they  must  ask 
what  this  means  in  terms  of  an  indus- 
trial order  that  relies  for  its  efficiency 
upon  the  profit  motive;  they  must  dis- 
cover what  it  requires,  for  example,  in 
the  matter  of  access  to  natural  re- 
sources and  raw  materials  by  different 
classes,  nations  and  races. 

The  increase  of  preaching  and  dis- 
cussion concerning  the  meaning  of 
Christianity  in  terms  of  the  industrial 
order  should  stimulate  experiment  on 
the  part  of  those  bearing  industrial 
responsibility.  If  religion  is  socially- 
minded,  it  will  continually  stimulate 
adventurous  spirits  to  creative  enter- 
prise in  the  vast  laboratory  of  economic 
organization.  At  this  point,  the 
Church  has  a  definite  responsibility  as 
a  church.  Practically  all  religious 
organizations  are  in  business  in  various 
ways — as  employer  and  investor,  as 
manufacturer  (of  printing),  and  land- 
lord.    What  better  way  to  teach  the 


mmm 


maNMB**^^ 


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The  Church  in  Industry 


99 


meaning  of  Christian  principles  than 
to  demonstrate  them?  Yet  in  modern 
industrial  history,  I  am  not  aware  of  a 
single  case  in  which  church  manage- 
ment has  set  new  standards.  So  far, 
the  experimenting  has  been  done  in  so- 
called  secular  business  enterprise  and 
church  organizations  have  been  but 
followers,  and  often  limping,  tardy 
followers  at  that. 

Ethical  Standards 

In  the  process  of  teaching  an  indus- 
trial society  the  present  meaning  of 
those  principles  of  conduct  and  asso- 
ciation which  have  been  developed  in 
the  experience  and  approved  by  the  de- 
sires of  the  past,  the  Church  inevitably 
becomes  the  voice  of  moral  authority. 
It  constantly  finds  itself  compelled  to 
pass  judgment  on  situations  and  pro- 
grams, on  movements  and  systems;  to 
indicate  whether  or  not,  and  to  what 
degree,  they  embody  and  exemplify  the 
principles  of  its  teaching.  If  it  avoid 
this  often  disagreeable  duty,  no  matter 
how  sonorous  its  proclamation  of  essen- 
tial principles,  it  becomes  but  a  blind 
leader  of  the  blind,  heading  for  the 
ditch  that  finally  receives  those  who 
mouth  sound  principles  while  they 
continue  or  sanction  contradictory 
practices. 

In  practice  the  voice  of  the  Church  in 
industrial  matters  is  expressed  by  indi- 
vidual men  on  their  own  responsibility, 
as  for  instance,  the  writings  of  such  men 
as  Rauschenbusch  or  Ryan;  or  by  rep- 
resentative groups,  either  clerical  or 
both  clerical  and  lay,  as  for  instance, 
the  CathoHc  Bishops'  Program  of  Re- 
construction, or  the  Steel  Strike  Report 
of  the  Interchurch  World  Movement; 
or  by  the  formal  action  of  official,  eccle- 
siastical bodies,  as  for  instance,  the 
famous  encyclical  of  Pope  Leo  XIII 
"On  the  Condition  of  Labor,"  or 
the  various  statements  adopted  by 
Protestant    denominations.     Running 


through  all  these  utterances,  there  is 
a  common  voice.  They  agree  in  their 
condemnation  of  certain  general  prac- 
tices of  the  industrial  world  and  of 
certain  elements  in  its  accepted  social 
philosophy,  as  being  anti-social  and 
therefore  irreligious.  This  very  fact 
establishes  a  moral  judgment  of  suffi- 
cient social  validity  that  it  cannot  with 
impunity  be  disregarded  by  our  indus- 
trial civilization. 

Yet  the  right  of  the  Church  to  utter 
moral  judgments  concerning  industrial 
issues  is  now  being  vigorously  con- 
tested by  those  whose  industrial  con- 
duct has  heretofore  been  without  re- 
straint of  any  authority.  In  final 
analysis,  this  is  the  question  of  the 
authority  of  the  pulpit  and  the  clergy, 
because  the  voice  of  the  Church  in  these 
matters,  while  it  may  at  times  be 
formed  with  the  participation  of  some 
laymen,  and  at  times  uttered  with  the 
approval  of  even  more,  will  necessarily  , 
be  formulated  and  uttered  for  the  most  ^ 
part  by  those  set  apart  for  that  pur- 
pose. Because  this  voice  does  and  will 
often  run  counter  to  accepted  practices 
and  views,  it  will  necessarily  meet  the 
opposition  and  even  the  rebellion  of  a 
considerable  section  of  the  laity.  On 
what  basis  then  can  the  pulpit,  indi- 
vidually and  collectively,  establish  a 
moral  authority  which  society  evidently 
needs? 

The    Authority    of    the    Church 

If  the  voice  of  the  Church  is  to  have 
authority  over  the  conscience  and 
actions  of  men  and  the  ways  of  society, 
that  authority  must  be  inherent  in  its 
judgments.  To  the  degree  in  which 
they  are  characterized  by  appeal  to 
enduring  values,  by  competent  han- 
dling of  facts,  and  by  disregard  of  con- 
sequences to  those  uttering  them,  they 
will  have  power.  The  world  may  resist 
for  a  while  the  vision  of  the  prophet, 
reject  for  a  time  the  counsel  of  knowl- 


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edge,  trample  under  foot  for  a  day  the 
devotion  of  the  martyr,  but  finally  it 
must  needs  follow^  them. 

So  the  right  of  the  clergy  to  utter 
judgment  concerning  industry  rests 
upon  and  w  ill  be  maintained  by  the 
strength  and  integrity  of  their  convic- 
tion that  they  speak  the  enduring  word, 
upon  their  proven  competency  to  han- 
dle the  facts  and  forces  of  the  industrial 
world,  and  upon  their  willingness  to 
risk  discomfort  and  loss  both  for  them- 
selves and  their  Church.  These  con- 
ditions are  to  some  degree  being  met. 
In  recent  years,  the  churches  are  train- 
ing a  group  of  men  in  the  historical 
knowledge  of  both  the  social  experience 
and  the  religious  convictions  of  the  race 
and  in  such  acquaintance  with  indus- 
trialism that  their  utterances  cannot  be 
waved  aside  as  the  voice  of  zeal  without 
knowledge.  Furthermore,  they  are 
teaching  more  men  how  to  use  for  pur- 
poses of  moral  judgment  the  work  of 
specialists  in  industrial  investigation 
and  research.  It  is  significant  that 
none  of  the  findings  of  church  bodies 
concerning  recent  industrial  conflicts 
have  been  successfully  disputed  as  to 
statements  of  fact.  Some  of  these  find- 
ings, as  in  the  matter  of  the  steel  strike 
and  the  open  shop  campaign,  have  cost 
church  bodies  something  in  the  loss  of 
funds.  Such  a  process  of  judgment, 
thus  demonstrating  its  intellectual 
competence  and  its  moral  validity,  can- 
not be  deprived  of  authority.  This 
authority  will  increase  in  a  democratic 
age  to  the  degree  that  the  voice  of  the 
clergy  is  characterized  by  a  sympa- 
thetic sense  of  a  common  responsibility 
for  the  situations  in  which  judgment 
is  uttered.  Only  those  who  feel  deeply 
the  bondage  of  the  common  body  of 
this  death  in  which  the  industrial  sys- 
tem has  tied  us  all,  can  help  mankind 
to  escape  from  it  and  to  find  the  way  of 
life. 

In  the  clash  of  conflicting  interests 


the  judgment  of  the  Church  acquires 
also  the  authority  of  some  degree  of 
detachment.  Speaking  generally,  the 
living  of  the  Church  comes  from  all 
parties  to  the  industrial  conflict.  Like 
the  impartial  chairman  in  some  indus- 
trial boards  who  is  paid  by  both  sides, 
it  need  be  swayed  by  neither.  Yet  its 
highest  allegiance  is  not  to  both,  but  to 
the  common  social  welfare  alone.  It  is 
partisan  only  to  the  facts  and  to 
humanity.  In  the  present  condition  of 
universal  industrial  belligerency  only 
the  man  of  science  and  the  man  of  reli- 
gion can  reach  this  degree  of  detach- 
ment, and  these  not  without  efi^ort. 
They  must,  therefore,  join  forces  to 
maintain  the  authority  of  the  common 
weal  as  they  see  it.  It  is  the  nearest 
we  can  come  to  any  disinterested  guid- 
ance for  humanitv. 

The  function  of  the  Church  in  rela- 
tion to  industry  does  not  end  with 
teaching  principles  and  uttering  judg- 
ments. It  is  the  organization  that 
seeks  the  realization  of  the  ideal  and 
its  expression  in  life.  It  stands  for 
what  ought  to  be  and  therefore  con- 
tinually turns  the  eyes  and  the  steps 
of  men  toward  a  better  way  of  living. 
It  is  and  always  will  be  the  herald  of  a 
new  order.  Its  supreme  task  is  to 
arouse  the  faith  and  hope,  to  generate 
the  love,  that  will  continually  create 
improved  forms  of  social  organization. 

To  most  beneficiaries  of  the  estab- 
lished order  this  aspect  of  the  function 
of  the  Church  is  particularly  objection- 
able. To  them  it  is  sacrilege  even  to 
suggest  the  temporary  nature  of  cap- 
italism. But  the  teachers  of  religion 
know  that  the  steel  and  concrete  in 
which  the  industrial  order  has  encased 
life  are  no  more  permanent  than  wood 
and  clay,  stocks  and  bonds  than  crowns 
and  thrones,  and  they  must  declare 
their  knowledge.  Moreover,  the  hour 
impels.  Already  there  is  a  deep  and 
wide  revolt  of  the  spirit  of  man  against 


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the  present  industrial  order  for  its  in- 
humanity, its  injustice,  its  beUigerency, 
its  inefficiency.  This  rebelHon  affects 
the  constitution  of  the  universe,  for  it 
affirms  that  if  this  tragic  disorder  which 
we  call  civilization  be  the  climax  of 
human  effort,  then  is  the  social  struggle 
of  mankind  but  a  cosmic  jest.  In  such 
a  time,  it  becomes  the  duty  of  organ- 
ized religion  to  prevent,  if  it  may,  the 
ruling  groups  from  obstructing  the 
highway  of  progress  and  the  repressed 
groups  from  tearing  up  the  road. 

Thus  many  present  voices  of  the 
Church  call  men  to  the  creative  task  of 
developing  a  new  order,  whether  it  be 
a  sect  declaring  that  in  the  ideal 
society  all  property  with  the  exception 
of  such  things  as  are  necessary  for  per- 
sonal and  household  use  should  be 
owned  communally,  or  whether  it  be 


Methodists  saying  that  industry  must 
be  transferred  from  the  basis  of  gain  to 
the  basis  of  service,  or  Catholics  insist- 
ing that  capitalism  and  socialism  are 
alike  unchristian  and  must  be  replaced 
by  a  system  of  individual,  cooperative 
ownership.     It    is    the    distinction   of 
these  modern  religious  voices  that  they 
do  not  call  men  to  make  a  fixed  pat- 
tern for  society.    They  have  caught  the 
scientific  method.    They  do  not  pretend 
to  know  what  we  shall  be,  but  they  urge 
men  constantly  to  use  both  reason  and 
faith  to  discover  new  ways  of  living 
more  in  harmony  with  our  ideals  and 
with  the  results  of  experience.     They 
challenge  the  creative  energy  of  man  to 
unite  with  the  creative  spirit  of  the 
universe  in  continually  developing  the 
capacities     of     humanity    for     living 
together. 


An  Employer's  View  of  the  Church's  Function  in 

Relation  to  Industry 

By  John  J.  Eagan 

President,  the  American  Cast  Iron  Pipe  Company,  Atlanta,  Georgia 


THE  first  duty  of  the  Church  in  rela- 
tion to  industry  is  to  get  to  the 
employer  the  message  sent  by  Paul  to 
Philemon,  the  employer  of  long  ago. 
That  message  dealt  with  a  laborer, 
who  had  struck,  walked  out,  the  slave 

"v  Onesimus,  who  ha.d  run  away  and  had 

gone  to  Paul  in  Rome.  Paul  sent  him 
back  to  work  with  a  fetter,  which  said : 
"Perhaps  he  departed  for  a  season, 
that  thou  shouldst  receive  him  forever; 
not  now  as  a  servant,  but  above  a 
servant,  a  brother  beloved." 

More  of  the  so-called  laboring  class 
would  be  coming  to  our  churches  if  they 
had  better  reason  to  expect  to  be  able 
W  to  return  with  such  a  message  to  their 
employers.  And  surely  more  of  the 
so-called  capitalist  class,  who  profess  to 
follow  Christ,  would  cease  to  oppose 
democracy  in  industry,  if  such  a  mes- 
sage were  impressed  by  the  Church,  as 
the  word  of  God,  upon  their  hearts. 
The  message  puts  the  relationship  of 
employer  and  employee  upon  an  even 
higher  plane  than  that  of  the  Golden 
Rule,  which  applies  to  all  men  alike. 
The  employer  is  to  receive  the  employee 
"not  now  as  a  servant,  but  above  a 

^  servant,  a  brother  beloved."     What  a 

solution  for  strikes! 

The  next  duty  of  the  Church  in  rela- 
tion to  industry  is  to  get  to  employer 
and  employee  alike,  the  message  which 
Jesus  gave  when  he  washed  the  feet  of 
His  disciples,  including  those  of  His 
betrayer,  the  night  of  the  betrayal. 
Jesus  said:  "Ye  call  me  Master  and 
Lord;  and  ye  say  well;  for  so  I  am.     If 

f  I,  then,  your  Lord  and  Master,  have 

washed  your  feet,  ye  also  ought  to  wash 


one  another's  feet.  For  I  have  given 
you  an  example,  that  ye  should  do  as 
I  have  done  to  you.  Verily,  verily,  I 
say  unto  you,  the  servant  is  not  greater 
than  his  Lord;  neither  he  that  is  sent 
greater  than  he  that  sent  him."  If  the 
spirit  of  these  words  were  the  si)irit  of 
the  rules  of  any  industrial  plant,  could 
there  be  in  it  any  talk  of  closed  shop, 
lock-outs  or  strikes? 

The  memory  of  the  concern  of  the 
public  in  the  price  of  the  output  of  every 
industry  brings  the  thought  tliat  the 
Church,  to  be  true  to  the  teaching  of 
the  Master,  must  insist  upon  the  prin- 
ciple voiced  by  Jesus  when  He  said: 
"Whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you, 
let  him  be  your  servant;  even  as  the 
Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  served,  Init 
to  serve,  and  to  give  His  life."  Above 
everything,  the  Church  is  called  to 
teach  that  he  who  would  follow  Jesus 
must  place  service  to  the  j)ublic  and  to 
fellow-laborers,  whether  they  be  em- 
ployer or  employee,  above  profits  and 
position. 

The    Churches    Should    Proclaim 
God's  Word 

In  approaching  the  question  of  the 
Church's  function  in  relation  to  indus- 
try, I  am  in  thorough  accord  with  those 
who  hold  that  the  primary  function  of 
the  Church  is  to  proclaim  God's  word, 
and  that  the  Church  treads  on  danger- 
ous ground  when  she  departs  from  this 
duty.  I  go  even  further.  The  (liurch, 
I  believe,  humanly  speaking,  will  be 
hopelessly  lost,  if  she  continually  fails 
to  proclaim  the  whole  of  God's  word. 
Hence,  my  vital  interest  in  God's  word 


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in  its  relation  to  industry  and  the  mes- 
sage of  the  Church  with  reference  to 
this  subject. 

James  says  that  "the  word"  is  a 
mirror,  in  which  we,  employer  and 
laborer  alike,  may  see  ourselves  as  we 
really  are.  He  warns  of  the  danger  of 
looking  into  the  mirror  by  hearing  the 
word,  and  going  away  without  remem- 
bering what  we  have  seen.  "Whoso 
looketh  unto  the  perfect  law  of  liberty," 
says  James,  "and  continueth  therein, 
he  being  not  a  forgetful  hearer,  but  a 
doer  of  the  work,  this  man  shall  be 
blessed  in  his  deed."  But  does  not 
that  which  is  held  before  us  as  "the 
word,"  as  a  mirror,  become  a  dull, 
cracked  and  useless  thing,  in  which 
neither  employer  nor  laborer  can  see 
himself,  if  the  Church,  whose  all-in- 
clusive function  it  is  to  hold  the  mirror 
before  us,  neglects  to  declare  the  un- 
palatable truth  which  James  reveals 
in  these  simple,  unmistakable  words? 

Go  to  now,  ye  rich  man,  weep  and  howl 
for  your  miseries  that  shall  come  upon  you. 
Your  riches  are  corrupted,  and  your  gar- 
ments are  motheaten.  Your  gold  and  silver 
is  cankered;  and  the  rust  of  them  shall  be  a 
witness  against  you,  and  shall  eat  your  flesh 
as  it  were  fire. 

Ye  have  heaped  treasure  together  for 
the  last  days. 

Behold,  the  hire  of  the  laborers  who 
have  reaped  down  your  fields,  which  is  of 
you  kept  back  by  fraud,  crieth;  and  the  cries 
of  them  which  have  reaped  are  entered  into 
the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth. 

Quite  a  text  for  a  word  from  the  Church 
concerning  the  living  wage.  And,  to 
make  the  mirror  whollv  clear  and  re- 
vealing,  the  words  of  Moses,  "Thou 
shalt  not  lend  upon  interest  to  thy 
brother,"  should  be  added.  Looking 
into  the  mirror  so  cleansed,  the  men, 
who  hold  that  a  return  upon  cold  in- 
vested dollars  must  come  ahead  of  the 
payment  of  a  living  wage,  which  wage 
would  enable  little  children  and  a  wife 


to  live  without  slaving  in  a  mill,  might 
see  themselves  as  their  Maker  sees 
them. 

The  investigation  by  our  government 
of  the  death  of  1,643  babies  in  an 
American  factory  town  in  our  day 
shows  that  the  death-rate  among  the 
babies  in  the  poorest  families  was  more 
than  four  times  as  high  as  among  those 
in  the  highest  paid  group.  The  moth- 
ers of  267  of  the  babies  had  to  go  out  to 
work  during  the  first  year  of  their 
babies'  lives.  These  babies  died  al- 
most like  flies,  277.3  per  thousand  being 
the  death-rate  among  those  whose 
mothers  had  to  go  before  they  were  four 
months  old.  The  babies  in  those 
homes  where  seven  or  more  families 
lived  huddled  together  died  at  the  rate 
of  236.6  per  thousand.  Former  Sur- 
geon General  William  C.  Gorgas  has 
said: 

That  poverty  is  the  greatest  single 
cause  of  bad  sanitary  conditions  was  very 
early  impressed  upon  me.  If  I  should  go  .< 
again  into  a  community  such  as  Cuba  or 
Panama,  and  were  allowed  to  select  only 
one  sanitary  measure,  but  were  at  the 
same  time  given  power  to  choose  from  all 
sanitary  measures,  I  would  select  that  of 
doubling  wages.  This,  in  my  case,  is  not 
altogether  theory.  Li  our  tropical  pos- 
sessions, in  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  the  Philip- 
pines, Panama,  the  result  has  always  come 
about  that  we  have  largely  increased  wages; 
the  result  has  also  come  about  that  in  all 
the  cases  we  have  greatly  improved  sani- 
tation. 

Putting  God's  Word  into  Practice 

With  millions  starving  for  food  in 
Europe,  grain  this  winter  was  being 
burned  for  fuel  in  South  America  and 
in  our  western  states,  because  the 
farmers  could  not  sell  the  grain  for 
enough  to  get  coal.  Millions  at  home 
and  abroad  shivered  last  winter  for  lack 
of  fuel.  Yet  overproduction  of  coal 
has  been  offered  as  an  explanation  for 
the   unsatisfactory   conditions  in   the 


The  Function  of  the  Church  in  Industry 


103 


> 


A 


coal  mines.  The  production  of  coal,  a 
necessity  of  life  for  all,  has  been  stopped 
in  a  great  number  of  mines  because 
operators  and  miners  cannot  get  to- 
gether and  agree  upon  a  living  wage  for 
the  men  who  spend  a  great  part  of  their 
lives  digging,  out  of  sight  of  the  light  of 
day,  in  order  that  our  factories  may 
run  and  our  furnaces  may  be  fired  to 
warm  our  homes. 

Did  not  Onesimus,  striking  long  ago, 
learn  something  from  Paul,  which  the 
Church  might  well  say  to  the  striking 
miners  of  our  day?  And  did  not  Paul's 
letter  to  capitalist  Philemon,  begging 
him  to  take  Onesimus  back,  "not  now 
as  a  servant,  but  above  a  servant,  a 
brother  beloved,"  have  in  it  a  message 
for  the  mine  operator  and  capitalist  of 
this  age?  The  words,  "above  a  serv- 
ant, a  brother  beloved,"  for  the  strik- 
ing workman,  returning,  and  the  mem- 
ory of  Jesus,  God  incarnate,  washing 
His  servants'  feet  in  order  to  put  an  end 
to  a  dispute  over  position  and  place, 
would  justify  the  Church  in  urging 
something  even  more  than  democracy 
in  industry  as  a  method  for  ending  a 
dispute  between  capital  and  labor  such 
as  that  which  has  stopped  the  digging 
of  our  coal. 

With  women  and  children  starving 
for  the  lack  of  the  food  which  has 
been  burned  for  coal,  and  with  people 
shivering  every  winter  for  the  lack  of 
fuel,  and  with  the  price  of  everything 
being  driven  up  and  kept  up  by  the 
inflated  price  of  coal,  is  not  the  Church 
recreant  to  her  trust,  if  she  fails  to 
point  to  this  needless  suffering  and  to 
remind  both  capital  and  labor  that 
those  who  would  follow  Christ  are 
here  "not  to  be  served,  but  to  serve,  and 
to  give  their  lives"  to  save  others. 
America  would  not  have  suffered  from 
three  thousand  strikes  a  year  for  the  past 
five  years,  I  venture  to  say,  if  all  of 
the  prophets  in  our  pulpits  had  pressed 
these    principles   upon    their    hearers 


as  diligently  as  they  have  pressed  the 
call  to  the  foreign  field.  I  confess  my- 
self at  a  loss  to  understand  the  thought 
of  those  who  question  the  propriety  of 
the  Church  speaking  more  than  pious 
platitudes  upon  industrial  problems  of 
our  day. 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
speaking  clearly,  plainly  and  fearlessly 
upon  these  subjects  has  added  another 
to  the  many  debts,  which  we  must  ad- 
mit that  we  owe  to  that  Church,  how- 
ever many  we  may  think  her  mistakes, 
and  however  much  we  may  differ  from 
her  members  in  the  expression  of  our 
faith. 

To  me,  one  of  the  most  hopeful  signs 
of  the  times  is  the  declaration  adopted 
by  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches  of 
Christ  in  December  1912.  ^ 

The  committee  of  Christian  minis- 
ters and  laymen  who  investigated  and 
published  the  facts  of  the  steel  strike 
was  moving  in  the  right  direction.  I 
glory  and  rejoice  in  the  fearless  work  of 
these  men.  But  was  it  not  unfortunate 
that  the  churches  had  not  gathered  the 
facts  and  let  in  the  light  of  God's  truth 
long  prior  to  the  strike?  Possibly, 
then,  there  would  have  been  no  strike. 

There  have  been  mutterings  in  our 
coal  fields  for  years.  Conflicting  state- 
ments have  been  given  to  the  public 
again  and  again.  How  many  of  our 
churches  have  given  careful  considera- 
tion to  the  subject?  When  lives  and 
industries  throughout  the  world  are 
largely  dependent  upon  this  one  indus- 
try, does  it  not  seem  that  the  churches 
should  have  a  word  to  say  with  refer- 
ence to  the  conflict  between  operators 
and  miners,  and  the  interest  of  the 
public  therein — that  word  to  be  based 
upon  carefully  ascertained  facts?  From 
the  bottom  of  my  heart  I  believe  in 
"foreign  missions,"  but  I  cannot  re- 
frain from  saying  that  the  situation  in 

^  SeCy  "  Policy  and  Program  of  the  Christian 
Churches,"  p.  126. 


104 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


the  coal  fields,  and  similar  situations 
which  may  arise,  demand  our  attention 
as  Christians  just  as  much  as  does  the 
foreign  field.  Therefore  I  rejoice  to 
see  material  touching  the  coal  strike 
and  kindred  subjects  being  sent  out  by 
the  Information  Service  of  the  Federal 
Council  of  Churches.  This  informa- 
tion should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
every  minister  and  church  official  in 
America,  and  it  should  be  used  by 
them. 

Mr.  Seebohm  Rowntree,  the  English 
manufacturer,  in  New  York  last  win- 
ter, made  a  statement  which  indicates 
how  some  minds  are  moving,  and  to 
me  proclaims  the  coming  dawn.  INIr. 
Rowntree  said:  "As  a  follower  of  Jesus, 
I  cannot  go  to  sleep  in  comfort  at 
night,  until  I  know  that  conditions  in 
my  plant  are  such  that  I  should  be  glad 
to  see  any  one  of  my  children  take  any 
position  as  a  laborer  in  the  plant." 
I  do  not  know  the  conditions  in  Mr. 
Rowntree's  plant,  except  by  hearing 
that  they  are  exceptionally  good,  but  I 
know  the  condition  in  many  coal  mines, 
mills,  factories  and  plants  of  America. 
Could  we,  who  know  the  conditions  in 
these,  honestly  say  that  we  should  be 
glad  to  see  one  of  our  children  "take 
any  position  as  a  laborer  in  the  plant?" 

Until  all  followers  of  Chirst,  who  em- 
ploy labor,  can  honestly  make  such  a 
declaration,  surely  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
Church  to  condemn  their  failure  and  to 
call  them  to  repent  and  take  the  better 
way.  Otherwise,  shall  we  ever  prove 
that  we  love  our  neighbors  as  we  love 
ourselves,  and  that  we  are  willing  to  do 


to  them  as  we  would  have  them  do  to 
us?  More,  that  we  would  willingly  die 
for  them  as  did  our  Saviour? 

So  long  as  6,000,000  unemployed  can 
walk  our  streets  in  winter,  so  long  as 
the  majority  of  the  :25, 000,000  wage- 
earners  of  the  United  States  live  in 
constant  fear  of  unemployment  and  in 
dread  of  the  inevitable  want  for  their 
families,  if  accident  or  death  removes 
the  wage-earner,  so  long  as  there  is  one 
cold,  hungry  child,  or  one  forced  to 
work,  or  a  baby  deprived  of  its  mother 
by  the  lack  of  a  living  wage,  so  long  as 
babies  are  dying  as  the  result  of  indus- 
trial conditions,  the  function  of  the 
(Church  in  relation  to  industry  is  crystal 
clear. 

This, I  conceive  to  be  the  all-inclusiv^e 
function  of  the  Church,  to  show  forth 
the  living  Christ,  His  power,  and  love 
in  our  lives. 

No  untried  path  lies  before  us. 
Christ  has  travelled  and  marked  the 
way  with  His  cross.  I  know  no  other 
for  the  Church,  which  He  promised 
should  break  the  very  "gates  of  Hell." 

Despite  our  failures  and  lack  of  faith, 
for  ages  these  gates  have  been  giving, 
cracking  before  the  slow  onward,  up- 
ward surge  of  civilization  moved  by  the 
Church  in  which  works  the  Spirit  of 
Christ.  Has  not  the  time  come  for 
the  Church,  in  His  name  and  strength, 
to  smash  the  gates  of  the  industrial  hell 
on  earth  and  release  the  mothers  and 
babies,  the  men,  women  and  children 
who  suffer  therein? 

This,  surely,  is  the  function  of  the 
Church. 


i 


An  Employer's  View  of  the  Churcirs  Function 

in  Industry 

By  P.  H.  Callahan 

President,  Louisville  Varnish  Company,  Louisville,  Kentucky 


WITHIN  recent  years  some  nota- 
ble changes  have  taken  place 
in  the  views  of  employers  concerning 
the  function  of  the  Church  in  industry. 
Formerly,  it  w^as  the  consensus  of 
opinion  that  neither  the  Church  nor 
the  State  had  any  right  to  function  in 
respect  to  industry.  Industry,  we 
thought,  should  l)e  free;  free,  not  only 
Y  as  a  whole,  but  in  all  its  functions  and 

:  all  its  factors.     Competition  should  be 

free;  bargaining  should  be  free;  above 
all,  labor  should  be  free.  From  the 
greatest  to  the  least  let  each  run  his 
race — "and  the  de'il  take  the  hind- 
most." That  was  our  philosophy  in 
the  last  century.  It  was  the  extreme 
individualism  of  Herbert  Spencer  ap- 
plied to  economics,  with  the  doctrine  of 
the  survival  of  the  fittest  held  up  as  the 
last  word  in  theorv,  and  often  literallv 
exemplified  in  practice.  Modern  in- 
dustry was  largely  built  on  the  basis  of 
that  philosophy  and,  needless  to  say, 
it  has  been  in  numerous  instances  a 
grim  tragedy. 

Certainly,  industry  could  not  have 
been  conducted  on  that  individualist 
philosopliy  without  the  world  at  large 
being  in  sympathy,  as  it  was.  In  point 
of  fact  the  employers  merely  adapted 
to  their  particular  field  the  individual- 
/^  ist  theories  that  were  being  variously 
applied  to  the  wider  domain  of  society, 
but  especially  in  religion  and  politics. 
If  in  religion  all  opinions  were  equally 
good,  and  in  politics  all  methods  were 
equally  fair,  why  in  economics  were  all 
bargains  not  equally  just?  Thus  it  was 
agreed  on  all  hands,  and  society  at- 
tempted to  achieve  the  impossible 
paradox  of  individualistic  concord. 

That  is  all  changed  now.     The  world 


has  lost  sympathy  with  the  individual- 
istic idea.  We  may,  indeed,  be  headed 
for  the  other  extreme;  but  whether  or 
not  we  go  as  far  in  the  oj^posite  direc- 
tion, we  can  be  sure  that  the  day  of  un- 
restricted competition,  of  unlimited 
exploitation,  of  non-interference  and 
laissez-faire,  is  a  thing  of  the  past. 
The  War  showed  that,  and  although  a 
decided  reaction  followed  the  War,  the 
ramifications  of  production  and  distri- 
bution have  come  to  affect  the  public 
too  widely  and  too  deeply  for  industry 
ever  again  to  be  "let  alone"  by  the 
guardians  of  the  public  welfare.  The 
right  of  the  State  to  function  in  this 
field  is  no  longer  questioned  by  any  of 
us;  it  is  now  only  a  question  as  to  the 
extent  that  the  State  should  exercise 
that  right  in  order  to  safeguard '  the 
public  welfare. 

The  right  of  the  Church  is  but  an- 
other aspect  of  the  same  matter.  In- 
dustry bears  on  morals  even  more  than 
it  bears  on  the  public  interest.  Its 
every  phase  has  somewhat  to  do  with 
human  beings  and  where  there  are 
human  beings,  there  are  moral  laws 
and  obligations  also,  and  there,  unless 
she  would  forfeit  all  right  in  the  moral 
sphere,  the  Church  must  have  some 
function.  To  acknowledge  the  right 
of  the  State  to  function  in  industry  and 
yet  deny  the  right  of  the  Church,  is 
inconsistent  with  any  adequate  con- 
ception of  the  human  element  in  in- 
dustry. 

Industry  has  a  Moral  Aspect 
All  industrial  ])roblems  have  a  moral 
aspect.     Indeed,  a  human  being  can- 
not exercise  his  free  will,  in  thought, 
word,  deed  or  omission,  without  touch- 


105 


.'iri^iiiKiciyt;", 


106 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


ing  on  morals.  The  moral  sphere  is  as 
broad  as  humanity  itself.  It  embraces 
every  relation,  every  affection,  every 
motive  and  impulse  known  to  man. 
WTiere  there  is  an  opportunity  to  do 
justice  or  injustice,  to  show  kindness  or 
unkindness,  to  extend  or  withhold 
charity,  a  question  of  morals  is  in- 
volved. "Where  the  amount  of  wages, 
the  length  of  hours,  the  safety  of  em- 
ployment, is  to  be  determined,  a  ques- 
tion of  morals  is  involved.  The  status 
of  the  workers  involves  a  moral  ques- 
tion; the  direction  of  the  work  involves 
a  moral  question;  productionrprice  and 
profit,  each  involves  a  moral  question. 
In  short,  industrial  management  and 
control,  because  it  has  to  do  with  hu- 
man beings,  must  be  considered  in  all 
its  phases  with  a  view  to  the  right  and 
the  wrong  of  the  thing. 

Man  is  not  a  machine  to  be  geared 
and  run  for  the  benefit  of  industry, 
whether  on  the  basis  of  an  individual- 
istic or  a  socialistic  philosophy.  Men 
are  no  more  to  be  exploited  for  the  wel- 
fare of  society  than  for  the  enrichment 
of  individual  persons.  It  is  not  enough 
that  the  public  interest  be  safeguarded; 
nor  yet  enough  that  private  interests 
be  secure.  The  dignity  of  the  human 
person  must  be  respected.  This  does 
not  belong  to  the  State  but  to  the 
Church,  which  stands  in  relation  to 
morals  as  does  the  State  in  relation  to 
the  public  interest. 

The  human  element  in  industry  re- 
quires the  Church  to  function  in  this 
field  in  order  to  save  human  beings 
from  the  degradation  they  suffer  in 
being  regarded  as  creatures  of  the 
State.  Without  the  Church  we  have 
no  reason  to  hope  that  the  concept  of 
human  dignity,  which  is  her  singular 
contribution  to  civilization,  will  be 
preserved.  Christ  said  to  the  Phari- 
sees that  the  Sabbath  was  made  for 
man  and  not  man  for  the  Sabbath; 
unless  this  profound  truth  is  kept  alive 


in  the  world  nothing  can  prevent  a 
recrudescence  of  the  pagan  thought, 
with  which  even  the  Jews  became 
tainted,  that  man  was  made  for  society 
and  may  be  exploited,  enslaved,  sacri- 
ficed, for  the  benefit  of  society  or  its 
favored  institutions,  among  which  in- 
dustry holds  as  high  a  place  in  our 
modern  eyes  as  did  the  Sabbath  among 
the  Jews. 

When  Pope  Leo  XIII  in  his  famous 
encyclical  on  *'The  Condition  of  the 
Working  Classes"  restated  in  terms  of 
modern  application  the  time-honored 
teaching  of.  the  Church  that  it  is  im- 
moral to  treat  human  beings  as  mere 
instruments    for    producing    wealth, 
whether  for  a  few  capitalists  or  for 
society  at  large,  the  whole  current  of 
modern  thought  pertaining  to  industry 
began  to  change.     Most  everyone  will 
now  admit  that  the  methods  prevailing 
in  industry  at  that  time  were  unjust,  if 
not,  indeed,  inhuman.     Not,  i>erhaps, 
so    inhuman   as   the   worst   forms   of 
slavery,  but  scarcely  to  be  preferred 
over  the  best  form  of  that  ancient  in- 
stitution.    The  underlying  philosophy 
of  both  was  that  nature  had  ordained 
that  some  persons  in  society  should 
exploit  others  for  their  own  benefit. 
Nothing  short  of  the  world-wide  in- 
fluence of  the  Church,  exerted  at  the 
propitious    time    when    the    reactions 
from  materialism  had  set  in,  could  have 
changed  the  current  of  thought  then 
prevalent,  without  carrying  things  to 
the  other  extreme,  which  the  wave  of 
radicalism    fast    rising    gave    earnest 
promise  of  doing. 

First,  then,  it  stands  in  the  nature  of 
things  that  the  Church  should  function 
in  respect  to  industry  because  industry 
has  a  moral  bearing  that  is  wide  and 
deep,  and  it  is  in  the  moral  sphere  that 
the  Church  exercises  the  fullest  com- 
petence. A\Tierever  there  is  a  moral 
question,  there  the  Church  should 
function. 


Function  of  the  Church  in  Industry 


107 


> 


> 


The   Church   is   the  Teacher 

Again,  the  Church  should  function  in 
this  field  because  her  teaching  has  been 
the  one  great  force  in  humanizing  civili- 
zation, in  lifting  mankind  out  of  the 
degradation  of  pagan  thought  toward 
the  dignity  of  the  Christian  ideal,  and 
it  would  be  an  incongruous  thing,  with 
the  ramifications  of  industry  as  exten- 
sive and  vital  as  they  are,  to  exclude 
from  this  field  the  one  force  that  has 
demonstrated  its  power  to  lead  the 
human  race  on  to  higher  planes. 

The  workingman  should,  welcome 
the  Church's  functioning  in  industry 
because  the  strength  of  her  influence  is 
his  one  hope  to  improve  without  vio- 
lence his  status  to  the  point  where  not 
only  economic  justice  but  social  justice 
as  well,  will  be  within  his  reach.  The 
employer  should  welcome  it  because, 
first,  it  is  right  and,  second,  it  is  all  that 
can  stay  the  swing  of  the  pendulum  to 
the  other  extreme  where,  as  today  in 
Russia,  the  once  favored  classes  will  be 
trampled  down  and  destroyed.  Society 
as  a  whole  should  welcome  it  because 
with  the  Church  teaching  and  the 
State  governing  in  well-balanced  har- 
mony society  is  organized  on  the  best 
possible  plan,  the  most  intelligent,  the 
most  tranquil,  the  most  lasting. 

The  Church  is,  of  course,  preemin- 
ently the  teacher.  She  is  equipped  to 
teach  the  world.  She  has  the  experi- 
ence, the  heart,  the  vision.  She  knows 
historv.  She  knows  men.  She  has 
been  with  them,  has  studied  them  for 
centuries.  She  is  the  incomparable 
expert  in  liuman  nature.  Her  specialty 
is  religion,  but  religion  was  made  for 
man,  and  a  religion  that  does  not  enter 
into  his  daily  life  can  be  of  no  great 
benefit  to  him.  A  religion  that  does 
not  reach  man's  heart  can  have  no  ap- 
preciable effect  on  his  conduct.  A 
religion  that  does  not  take  in  the  whole 
moral  sphere  cannot  adequately  deal 


with  any  moral  problem.  Moral  v^alues 
are  not  delimited  by  zones  or  occupa- 
tional lines;  they  all  run  into  one  an- 
other; and  the  moral  teacher  that  does 
not  assert  the  right  to  function  in  such 
an  important  sphere  of  human  activity 
as  modern  industry,  acknowledges  its 
own  incompetence. 

There  is  no  necessity  here  to  discuss 
man's  need  of  religion,  which  alone  has 
lifted  the  race  out  of  the  pits  where  the 
first  man  born  slew  his  brother;  which 
alone  can  search  man's  conscience  and 
train  his  will  to  better  things.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  without  the  Church 
to  teach  us  the  right  and  the  wrong  of 
human  conduct  in  all  the  relations  of 
men,  it  is  left  only  for  the  State,  by  the 
power  of  numbers,  to  establish  society 
on  the  basis  that  for  the  moment  is  in 
most   popular   demand. 

In  the  light  of  history  and  with  hu- 
man nature  what  it  is  in  the  raw,  that 
alternative  holds  out  a  prospect  which 
must  cause  even  selfish  groups  and  per- 
sons to  be  willing  for  the  Church  to 
exert  her  moral  influence  in  the  field  of 
industry.  There  is  no  wrong  however 
great  that  the  untaught  conscience  of 
the  people  has  not  in  the  past  condoned, 
no  cruelty  however  deep  that  popular 
majorities  under  the  spell  of  some 
inflamed  propagandist  have  not  ap- 
proved. Neither  barricades  nor  bullets 
are  adequate  to  check  an  aroused  popu- 
lace; and  as  for  law,  this  is  effective 
only  to  the  extent  that  it  has  the 
sanction  of  the  common  conscience. 
The  power  that  can  lay  its  edicts  on 
man's  conscience  alone  can  save  him  in 
that  hour  when  the  elemental  traits  of 
human  nature  break  through  the  crust 
of  civilized  conventions.  That  power 
is  the  Church,  the  great  moral  teacher 
of  mankind,  which  should  have  an  ac- 
tive function  in  all  divisions  of  society, 
and  not  least  in  that  field  where  &o 
many  men  and  women  spend  their 
lives. 


„,..  ^-    -  iat«m 


^/m 


I' 


Labor's  View  of  the  Church's  Function  with  Regard 

to  Industrial  Relations 

By  John  A.  Voll 

President,  Glass  Bottle  Blowers'  Association 


LABOR'S  view  of  the  Church's 
function  with  regard  to  industrial 
rehitions  is  not  only  sympathetic  at 
this  time,  but  pleasing,  being  in  direct 
contrast  with  the  views  held  by  labor  on 
this  matter  in  the  not  very  distant  past. 
In  fact,  the  common  opinion  among 
wage-earners  was  that  the  Church  had 
not  only  neglected  its  duty  in  regard  to 
industrial  relations  toward  the  masses, 
but  that  it  ciu-ried  the  favor  of  material- 
ism. Labor  has  nowhere  to  look  or 
nowhere  to  go  for  common  justice  other 
than  to  the  Church,  unless  it  found  its 
efforts  upon  a  materialistic  basis  and 
thus  control  and  dominate  government 
and  the  Chm-ch,  as  capitalism  is  at- 
tempting to  do  and  as  the  masses  have 
done  in  Russia.  In  other  words,  if 
labor  cannot  depend  upon  the  Church 
for  sympathy  and  a  vigorous  stand  for 
justice,  it  will  be  forced  to  conquer  one 
blighting  form  of  materialism  with  an- 
other equally  inhuman  and  destructive 
of  men's  souls  and  the  finer  sensibilities 

of  life. 

This  condition  in  government  or  form 
of  government  should  never  be  allowed 
to  prevail,  nor  will  it  prevail  if  Christian 
doctrine  is  put  into  practice  in  industry. 
It  was  materialism  that  enslaved  the 
laborer.  It  was  the  Church  that  freed 
him,  not  by  the  sword  but  by  the  doc- 
trine of  himian  equality,  and  this  is  the 
doctrine  that  capitalism  abhors  and 
would  crush  if  possible.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  upon  this  doctrine  that  the 
laborer  relies  to  uphold  his  dignity  as 
man  and  to  obtain  his  just  share  of  the 
fruits  of  the  earth.  It  is  l>ecause  the  la- 
borer felt,  whether  rightly  or  wrongly, 
that  the  Church   had   become  lax   in 


her  industrial  relations  and  was  allow- 
ing materialism  to  control  and  oppress 
her,  that  he  became  cold  and  critical. 

Materialism  ran  rampant  from  the 
time  of  the  Middle  Ages  when  capital- 
ism supplanted  feudalism  and  crushed 
the  workingmen's  guilds,  luitil  1891 
when  Pope  Leo  XIII  startled  the  world 
with  his  famous  encyclical  on  the  *'Con- 
dit  ions  of  the  Working  Classes."  How- 
ever, this  extraordinary  and  it  would 
seem  inspired  elaboration  of  the  doc- 
trine of  human  equality  was  allowed  to 
lie  dormant.  The  first  real  activity 
in  conformity  therewith  came  nearly 
twenty  years  later  through  the  Federal 
Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  its 
investigation  and  report  to  the  public 
of  the  strike  of  the  steel  workers 
at  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania,  in  1910. 
The  Christian  forces  gradually  continu- 
ing their  activities  since  that  time  have 
inspired  the  laborers  with  the  hope  and 
confidence  that  they  will  not  be  left 
defenceless  to  the  gaping  maws  of 
capitalism  nor  forced  to  become  mate- 
rialists and  eventually  atheists  and 
drifters  with  the  tide  for  protection  of 
their  rights  and  liberties.  To  become 
materialists  woidd  result  only  in  serf- 
dom if  their  materialistic  effort  to  con- 
trol and  dominate  met  with  success. 

The  Church  to  Take  Active  Part 

To  the  laborer's  mind  the  position 
and  attitude  of  opposing  forces  in  in- 
dustry makes  it  plain  that  the  Church 
can  no  more  separate  herself  from  in- 
dustrial relations  and  activities  than 
can  the  government  or  the  laborer  him- 
self be  separated  therefrom.  Nor  can 
the  Church  maintain  a  neutral  position 


Labor's  View  of  the  Church  and  Industry 


109 


as  capitalism  has  pressed  her  to  do,  a 
position  to  which  some  of  her  leaders 

♦  subscribe.     These  leaders  fail  to  see 

that  capitalism's  method  of  obtaining 
control  is  to  first  crush  the  things  which 
give  strength  to  that  which  it  wishes 
to  subjugate.  In  this  instance  the  ob- 
ject to  be  controlled  is  the  Church. 
Hence  capitalism  strives  to  crush  the 
wage-earners'  unions  as  it  did  the  work- 
ingmen's guilds  of  old  because  they  add 
to  the  strength  of  the  Church.  The 
('hiu-ch's  very  life  is  bound  up  in  in- 
dustrial relations  and  has  been  since 

,.  Christianity    dawned    upon    a    pagan 

]  world,  because  the  Church  involves  the 
salvation  of  men's  souls.  Her  struggle 
for  two  thousand  years  has  been  largely 
against  materialism,  to  prevent  one 
man  from  making  a  slave  of  another  or 
from  appropriating  the  fruits  of  the 
earth  contrary  to  the  will  of  God. 

The  laborer  knows  there  can  be  no 
just  compromise  between  the  Church 
^  and  capitalism,  that  capitalism  is  as 
much  opposed  to  Christian  doctrine 
today  as  materialism  was  in  the  early 
days  of  Christianity.  He  also  knows 
that  the  doctrine  of  human  equality 
that  freed  the  laborer  from  slavery  is 
not  accepted  by  capitalism.  He  sees 
in  the  daily  press  and  hears  from  the 
rostrum  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
human  equality,  mentally  or  physi- 
cally, and  for  that  reason  the  fittest,  the 
superiors  in  society,  feel  justified  in 
appropriating  to  themselves  the  lion's 


A 


108 


share  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth.     Thus, 


they  largely  control  governments  and 
deny  natural  and  lawful  rights  to  their 
fellow  citizens.  Christian  doctrine, 
however,  tells  us  there  is  human  equal- 
ity, not  mentally  or  physically,  but 
human  equality  wherein  each  individ- 
ual in  society  contributes  to  the  good 
of  all  others  subordinating  private  aims 
and  interests  to  the  general  welfare. 
y  Therefore,  for  the  Church  to  remain 

neutral  or  inactive  in  the  relations  be- 


tween capital  and  labor  is  to  refrain 
from  advocating  and  carrying  out  the 
fundamental  principles  upon  which  she 
was  founded.  Capitalism's  interpreta- 
tion of  human  equality  is  paganism. 
It  would,  if  allowed  to  follow  to  its 
logical  end,  recognize  a  soul  and  human 
aspirations  only  in  those  who  were 
of  the  patricians.  Consequently,  the 
Church  for  her  own  rights  and  liberties, 
for  her  own  salvation,  must  take  part 
in  industrial  relations,  and  speak  out 
boldly  where  she  finds  injustice. 

It  is  inconceivable  how  the  Church 
can  be  neutral  while  labor  is  justly 
pleading  for  a  square  deal  in  industry; 
while  it  is  discriminated  against  in  the 
courts  where  its  simple  story  is  not 
judged  in  the  same  way  as  are  the  forces 
whose  social  standing  and  general  in- 
fluence are  far  above  that  of  labor. 
This  discrimination  is  due  to  environ- 
ment, contact,  and  the  possession  of 
great  wealth,  the  latter  permitting  the 
employment  of  superior  legal  talent  to 
either  prosecute  or  defend  justly  or 
unjustly.  Neither  should  the  Church, 
in  our  opinion,  remain  quiet  or  neutral 
while  the  capitalistic  forces  largely 
control  and  dominate  our  political  in- 
stitutions, federal,  state  and  municipal, 
through  which  they  deny  the  right  of 
free  assembly  and  free  speech. 

Labor  Movement  Based  on  Chris- 
tian Principles 

Labor  is  beginning  to  realize,  how- 
ever, that  the  Church  has  not  always 
been  free  to  denounce  political  and 
economic  wrong  and  injustice  in  the 
way  it  should  be  denounced.  It  is  also 
beginning  to  open  its  eyes  to  the  fact 
that  this  political  and  economic  control 
by  capitalism  has  not  only  laid  almost 
insurmountable  barriers  at  times  in  the 
Church's  path  of  legitimate  fimction- 
ing,  but  has  repeatedly  cracked  the 
money  whip,  if  its  leaders  dared  to  in- 
vestigate and  tell  the  truth  of  labor's 


"-•^  «--^-Wrnp|i|t«M 


no 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


crushed  hopes  and  aspirations.  It  is 
these  things  in  common  between  the 
Church  and  the  struggUng  masses,  es- 
pecially the  organized  wage-earners, 
that  is' fast  developing  a  bond  of  good 
will,  confidence  and  cooperation. 

And  why  not?    The  labor  movement 
in  our  country  is  built  upon  Christian 
principles  and  practices  and  it  functions 
accordingly,  not,  it  is  true,  in  the  exact 
spirit  of  forebearance  of  the  Church  it- 
self, because  the  movement  is  human  in 
its  origin  and  is  compelled  to  assume 
militancy  in  order  to  keep  from  being 
crushed  and  to  gain  for  the  masses  that 
to  which  they  are  justly  entitled.     It  is 
indeed  gratifying  to  the  wage-earners 
that  the  Christian  forces  have  come 
to  realize  and  appreciate  the  Christian 
character  of  the  trade-union,  and  to  ex- 
press their  stand  unhesitatingly  as  in 
the  declaration  against  the  open  shop 
by  the  Protestant,  Catholic,  and  Jewish 
religions;  in  the  reconstruction  program 
adopted    by    each    of    these    religious 
bodies;  in  the  investigation  and  report 
of  the  late  steel  strike  by  the  Inter- 
church  World  Movement;  in  the  joint 
investigation  and  report  on  the  Denver 
tramway  strike  by  the  Catholic  and 
Protestant  National  Councils;  and  in 
the  general  activity  in  keeping  before 
the  public  the  absolute  necessity  of  a 
much    greater    recognition    of    human 
rights  and  welfare  in  industry  than  now 
exists..    The  Church,  through  her  ac- 
tivities in  the  field  of  industrial  rela- 
tions, has  shown  her  true  leadership  of 
society  and  demonstrated  the  intention 
of  taking  her  rightful  position  as  the 
balance  wheel  of  society.     The  visioned 
and  courageous  leaders  of  the  Christian 
forces    see    the    great    change    taking 
place  in  the  social  order  throughout  the 
world,  and  sense  the  necessity  of  mould- 
ing it  into  such  form  as  to  prevent  a 
•  debacle  of  society  and  complete  chaos. 
In  their  efforts  it  would  seem  that  the 
employers   of  labor  should   cooperate 


gladly  with  them,  for  success  means 
continuance  of  the  system  of  private 
ownership  of  productive  property,  and 
failure  means  its  abolition. 

Church  to  Promote  Justice 
Throughout  the  world  there  is  con- 
stant unrest  of  a  character  never  be- 
fore witnessed  or  recorded.  This  is 
due  largely  to  the  rapid  means  of  com- 
munication and  transportation,  and  to 
the  doctrine  of  self-determination  for 
all  peoples  which  has  impregnated  the 
world,  the  latter  a  democratic  germ  for 
industry  as  well  as  for  government. 
These  things,  coupled  with  progress  in 
education  and  higher  standards,  de- 
mand a  change  in  the  social  order. 
This  change  is  now  in  process  and  will 
necessarily  continue  regardless  of  any 
and  all  obstacles  that  may  be  put  in  the 
way.  The  conclusion  to  be  reached, 
therefore,  is  that  it  is  far  better  to  go 
along  with  and  mould  this  change  into 
sound,  stable  government  based  upon 
good  will  and  justice,  than  to  oppose  it 
and  bring  into  being  government  based 
upon  injustice  and  hate. 

Employers  of  labor,  however,  will 
not  openly  and  fairly  cooperate  with 
the  Christian  forces  in  their  industrial 
activities  because  capitalism  will  not 
permit  them  to  do  so.  Christian  forces 
are  striving  for  a  square  deal  in  indus- 
try and  government;  capitalism  is  op- 
posed to  the  square  deal.  In  fact,  it 
functions  through  deception,  misrepre- 
sentation and  oppression.  It  is  blind 
to  human  appeal  and  calloused  to  the 
hopes  and  aspirations  of  the  masses. 
But  materialism  has  ever  been  thus. 
We  find  that  in  133  B.C.  a  Roman 
tribune,  in  promulgating  his  agrarian 
laws,  appealed  to  the  rich  to  accept  the 
trifling  sacrifice  for  tlie  good  of  the  re- 
public, but  neither  appeal,  argument  or 
eloquence  could  overcome  their  narrow 
selfishness.  There  is  too  much  blind 
dependence  today  upon  the  soundness 


\ 


Labor  s  View  of  the  Church  and  Industry 


111 


1 


> 


and  sanity  of  the  American  wage- 
earner.  The  thought  of  human  limita- 
tion is  entirely  cast  aside  by  the  capi- 
talistic forces.  The  people  of  this  day 
have  passed  beyond  the  stages  of  slav- 
ery and  serfdom  in  the  slow  process  of 
civilization.  A  living  and  a  place  to 
sleep  will  not  satisfy  the  human  bemg 
today  who  can  read  and  write  and  who 
at  least  exercises  freedom  of  thought 
and  a  limited  freedom  of  action. 

This   is   set  forth  clearly  and  un- 
equivocally in  the  Catholic  Bishops' 
Program  of  Reconstruction  wherein  it 
says:  "Nevertheless  the  full  possibili- 
ties of  increased  production  will  not  be 
realized  so  long  as  the  majority  of  the 
workers    remain    mere    wage-earners. 
The  majority  must  somehow  become 
owners,  or  owners  in  part,  of  the  in- 
struments of  production.     They  can  be 
enabled  to  reach  this  stage  gradually 
through  cooperative  productive  socie- 
ties and  co-partnership  arrangement. 
In  the  former  the  workers  own  and 
manage   the   industry  themselves;  in 
tlie  latter  they  own  a  substantial  part 
of    the   corporate    stock  and  exercise 
a    reasonable    share   in   management. 
However  slow  the  attainment  of  these 
ends,  they  will  have  to  be  reached  be- 
fore we  can  have  a  thorough,  efficient 
system  of  production,  or  an  industrial 
and  social  order  that  will  be  secure  from 
the  danger  of  revolution." 

Capitalism  as  a  matter  of  coiuse  re- 
pudiates this  sound  and  evolutionary 
doctrine  as  it  repudiates  all  effort  and 
action  that  tend  to  curb  its  power  or 
curtail  its  satisfaction  and  greed. 
This  is  borne  out  by  an  editorial  that 


appeared  some  time  ago  in  the  Wall 
Street    Journal    and     is    particularly 
significant    on    this    point.     It    says: 
*'When  the  real  adjustment  comes  the 
unskilled  worker  finishes  where  he  be- 
longs, at  the  bottom  of  the  list.     He 
will  be  able  to  live  on  two  dollars  a  day 
when  he  is  lucky  enougli  to  get  that 
amount  regularly.     The  cost  of  living 
will  adjust  itself.     The  Labor  Bureau 
will  give  up  publishing  nonsense  about 
$2,600  a  year  minimum  for  a  fancied 
family  of  five.     The  unskilled  worker 
will  thank  goodness  that  he  has  no 
family  of  five  or  indeed  anybody  but 
himself  to  support;  nor  will  any  em- 
ployer  pay  him  on   a   basis   of   such 
fatherhood  as  the  bankrupt  and  dis- 
credited Interchurch  World  Movement 
absurdly  proposed  in  its  gratuitous  in- 
quiry into  the  steel  strike." 

Here  we  come  to  a  stern  realization 
of  the  absolute  necessity  of  activity  in 
the  field  of  industrial  relations  on  the 
part  of  the  Church:  first,  for  the  salva- 
tion of  society  through  maintaining  the 
principles  and  practices  of  Christianity 
therein;    second,   for   the   purpose    of 
moulding  the  inevitable  change  in  the 
functioning  of  industry  in  a  manner 
that  will  accord  justice  to  all;  third,  to 
preserve  the  present  system  of  private 
productive  property.     Wiile  the  writer 
is  not  in  a  position  nor  authorized  to 
speak  for  labor  as  a  whole,  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  the  interpretation  herein  set 
forth  of  labor's  view  of  the  Church's 
function  with  regard  to  industrial  rela- 
tions is  in  conformity  with  the  position 
and  principles  of  the  labor  movement 
of  our  country. 


«MMiHAMaMpMiia6!>iinw<wii^^ 


Labor's  View  of  the  Function  of  the  Church 

By  A.  J.  MusTE 

Director,  the  Brookwood  School,  Katonah,  New  York 


IT  is  my  purpose  in  this  article  to  try 
to  state  what  the  more  radical  and 
aggressive  groups  of  workers  in  this 
country  think  about  the  Church  and 
the  function  it  fulfills  and  might  fulfill 
in  society. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  among  these 
groups  one  may  find  some  positive 
hostility  and  bitterness  toward  the 
churches.  Particularly  among  foreign- 
speaking  workers  in  large  industrial 
centers  there  is  frequently  a  very  defi- 
nite line  drawn  between  what  are 
called  "church  jjeople"  and  "radicals" 
or  "enlightened  ones."  The  latter 
never  expect  any  support  from  the 
former  in  lalx)r-union  work,  and  the 
former  regard  unions  or  radical  politi- 
cal parties  as  agencies  of  the  devil. 

If  one  seeks  to  analyze  somewhat 
more  closely  the  grounds  for  the  feeling 
of  hostility  to  the  Church  among  some 
of  the  more  aggressive  workers,  two 
considerations  may  be  mentioned.  In 
the  first  place,  these  workers  hold  that 
social  institutions  are  primarily  the 
product  of  the  economic  system  and 
exist  to  support  it.  Our  economic  sys- 
tem is  the  system  of  capitalism,  under 
which  the  ownership  of  the  means  of 
production  is  concentrated  in  the  hands 
of  a  few,  while  workers  own  nothing 
but  their  labor-power  which  they  have 
to  sell  like  a  commodity  in  a  bitterly 
competitive  market.  The  modern 
churches  are  a  part  of  this  system. 
They  depend  directly  or  indirectly 
upon  the  privileged  classes  for  their 
financial  support  and  social  prestige. 
Consequently,  whenever  conflict  arises 
between  the  masters  and  the  workers, 
the  churches  will  be  found  throwing 
the  weight  of  their  great  moral  influence 


in  the  comnumity  into  the  scale  against 
labor.  They  are  bound  in  a  crisis  to  be 
reactionary.  They  are  the  natural 
foes  of  labor,  and  labor  should  look 
upon  them  as  such.  So  runs  the 
familiar  indictment. 

In  the  second  place,  not  a  few  radical 
workers  are  hostile  to  the  Church,  or  at 
least  very  impatient  with  it,  because,  as 
they  think,  the  Church  fixes  the  minds 
of  the  workers  upon  the  next  world  and 
so  distracts  their  attention  from  the 
pressing  task  of  making  the  present 
world  a  decent  place  to  live  in.  I  have 
heard  it  said:  "The  preacher  points 
your  eyes  to  heaven,  and  then  the  boss 
picks  your  pocket."  "Religion  is  the 
opiate  of  the  people." 

Now,  undoubtedly,  workers  who  hold 
the  above  views  do  so  partly  because 
they  are  considered  good  orthodox 
radical  doctrine.  Radicalism  also  can 
be  dogmatic!  But  these  workers  can 
usually  also  point  to  events  that  have 
taken  place  under  their  own  noses 
that  seem  to  provide  very  concrete 
support  for  their  views.  They  know 
how  many  manual  workers  are  found 
in  the  conventions  and  on  the  influen- 
tial boards  and  committees  of  the  vari- 
ous denominations.  They  know  how 
well  they  would  fit  into  the  life  of  the 
churches  on  the  Avenue.  They  have 
seen  a  steel  or  mining  or  textile  corpora- 
tion build  the  church,  and  then  heard 
the  clergyman  from  its  pulpit  urge 
strikers  protesting  against  a  reduction 
in  a  starvation  wage,  to  go  meekly  back 
to  work,  and  so  one  could  go  on  at  great 
length. 

It  is  of  course  very  difficult  to  esti- 
mate how  widespread  and  intense  an 
attitude  such  as  we  have  been  describ- 


Labor's  View  of  the  Function  of  the  Church 


113 


>( 


\ 


> 


1 1. 


112 


If 


> 


ing  may  be.  One's  own  views  are  apt 
to  affect  his  estimate.  I  give  it  as  my 
opinion,  however,  that  the  prevailing 
attitude  toward  the  Church  among  the 
more  aggressive  workers  in  the  United 
States  is  not  that  of  definite,  irrevo- 
cable hostility.  The  attitude  of  indif- 
ference is  more  common.  During 
several  years  of  constant  association 
with  what  would  perhaps  be  described 
as  radical  but  not  extremist  workers, 
I  have  seldom  heard  an  attack  on  the 
Church.  Sometimes  I  have  seen  men 
smile  contemptuously  at  the  mention 
of  the  Church;  but  much  more  fre- 
quently have  I  encountered  men  and 
women  who  almost  never  gave  a 
thought  to  the  Church  or  religion,  in 
the  usual  sense  of  the  term,  and  who, 
on  the  rare  occasions  when  their  minds 
turned  to  the  subject,  thought  of  the 
Church  as  a  phenomenon  belonging  to 
another  world  or  planet,  which  might 
be  good  or  bad  in  itself  but  had  ab- 
solutely no  contact  with  the  interests 
of  workers  or  conceivable  contribution 
to  make  to  their  cause.  For  one  man 
who  was  suspicious  of  me  as  a  labor- 
union  official  because  I  had  been  con- 
nected with  the  Church,  I  am  sure 
there  were  ten  who  simply  could  not 
understand  how  any  one  could  possibly 
make  the  passage  from  one  world  into 
the  other. 

I  am  convinced,  however,  that  this 
attitude  of  indifference  is  not  irrevo- 
cably fixed.  On  the  contrary,  I  have 
seen  workers  manifest  a  most  lively  in- 
terest in  the  doings  of  the  Church. 
Recent  utterances  on  the  subject  of 
post-war  reconstruction,  social  justice, 
and  the  open  shop,  by  Roman  Catholic 
Bishops,  the  Federal  Council  of 
Churches,  and  other  religious  bodies, 
have  made  a  profound  impression  upon 
the  more  advanced  unionists  through- 
out the  land  and  have  been  repeatedly 
quoted  and  commented  on  in  their 
press.    The  good  effect  of  the  report  on 

9 


the  steel  strike  by  the  Interchurch 
World  Movement  is  beyond  calcula- 
tion. On  a  smaller  scale  I  have  seen 
the  spirit  of  a  whole  mill  village  com- 
pletely changed  within  a  few  days 
after  an  officer  of  a  local  labor  union 
came    to    me    and    said:    "Yesterday 

Father told  us  in  his  sermon  that 

a  few  people  have  too  much  to  say  in 
this  country  and  that  if  we  are  men  and 
not  slaves  we  ought  to  organize  to  pro- 
tect our  wages  and  working  conditions, 
and  this  morning  fifteen  spinners  put 
in  applications  to  join  the  union!" 

There  are,  then,  circumstances  under 
which  even  radical  workers  feel  that 
what  the  churches  do  is  of  some  con- 
cern to  them,  and  the  actions  of  reli- 
gious bodies  obtain  a  quite  enthusiastic 
approbation  from  them.  Can  we  de- 
termine what  actions  of  the  churches 
meet  with  this  approbation,  and  how, 
therefore,  the  churches  may  function 
in  the  present  industrial  situation  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  workers?  It 
seems  to  me  that  two  things  may  be 
pointed  out  in  answer  to  this  ques- 
tion. 

What   the   Churches   Can   Do 

Publish  Facts. — In  the  first  place,  we 
have  observed  that  workers  have 
greeted  with  marked  enthusiasm  and 
gratitude  documents  such  as  the  re- 
ports on  the  steel  strike  of  the  Inter- 
church World  Movement  or  the  more 
recent  booklet  on  the  coal  situation  is- 
sued by  the  Social  Service  Department 
of  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America,  which  set  forth  the 
facts  about  a  critical  industrial  situa- 
tion. The  churches,  in  other  words, 
can  function  todav,  can  make  a  real 
contribution,  by  maintaining  fact- 
finding agencies,  national  ones  for  all 
large  situations  and  smaller  ones  in  the 
important  industrial  center,  to  deal 
with  pressing  issues  of  a  local  nature, 
and  by  seeing  to  it  that  the  facts  when 


114 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


found  shall  be  published  no   matter 
who  may  be  hit. 

There  is  nothing  that  angers  human 
beings  so  much  or  makes  them  feel  so 
bitter  or  hopeless,  as  failure  to  seek,  or 
suppression  of,  the  plain  facts  about 
their  condition,  or  the  misrepresenta- 
tion of  these  facts.     The  worker  knows 
what  wages  he  gets,  how  much  his  wife 
has  to  pay  for  the  necessaries  of  life  to 
landlord,   grocer   and   clothier,   under 
what  conditions  he  works  in  mill,  mine 
and  factory,  what  happens  to  him  if  he 
joins  a  union  or  goes  on  strike.     He  can 
not  understand  how  anyone  who  really 
wants  to  know  can  have  any  serious 
difficulty  in  finding  out  the  facts  as  to 
these  matters,  nor  how  people  should 
not  want  to  know   such  facts  when 
grave     industrial     disturbances     take 
})lace.     Yet  often  he  looks  in  vain  in 
the  public  press,  secular  or  religious, 
for  any  reference  to  these  facts;  and 
not  seldom  he  finds  published  what 
seem  to  him  deliberate  and  inexcusable 
lies,    such    as    a   report    that   certain 
strikers  have  been  earning  fifty  dollars 
a  week  when  perhaps  five  per  cent  of 
them  can  make  that  much  and  the  rest 
have  averaged  nearer  twenty  dollars 
per  week.     Then  there  are  questions 
concerning  the  capitalization  of  indus- 
trial concerns  of  all  sorts,  the  share  of 
the  proceeds  of  industry  that  actually 
goes  to  labor,  to  management,  to  rent 
and  interest,  to  profit.     There  are  facts 
to  be  had  with  regard  to  these  matters. 
The  worker  feels  that  all  honest  people 
must  want  to  loiow  the  facts.     Yet  he 
finds  often  an  indifference  as  to  the 
facts,   unwillingness  to  furnish  them, 
suppression  or  distortion  of  them,  and 
he  becomes  suspicious,   bitter,  or  de- 
spairing.    Who  shall  blame  him? 

Now  in  many  cases  the  workers  do 
not  have  as  yet  the  means,  financial  and 
otherwise,  to  obtain  all  the  facts,  and 
even  if  they  did  they  might  be  sus- 
pected of  having  a  bias  in  preseutmg 


them.     The  reception  that  has  greeted 
certain  reports  above  referred  to,  indi- 
cates  that   the  workers   believe   that 
there    are    at    least    some    religious 
agencies  that  they  can  trust  to  give  the 
facts  fairly.     There  are,  on  the  other 
hand,  large  numbers  of  people  besides 
the  manual  workers  in  the  conmmnity, 
who  have  confidence  in  reports  from 
such  religious  agencies,  and  who  may 
therefore  be  aroused  by  them  out  of 
the  complacency  into  which  good  i)eo- 
ple  fall  because  their  surroundings  put 
them  completely  out  of  touch  with  the 
workers,     and     because     the    human 
imagination  is  lazy  and  weak.     Thus, 
by  maintaining  fact-finding  and  fact- 
publishing  agencies,  the  churches  may 
render  a  great  two-fold  social  service. 
They  can  serve  the  workers,  dispelling 
the  bitterness  they  often  feel  because  of 
their  conviction  that  society  has  not 
learned  and  will  not  learn  the  facts 
about  their  lives;  and  they  can  serve 
the  well-meaning  people  in  the  com- 
mimity  who  today  condemn  organized 
labor  or  are  wholly  indifferent  to  its 
aims  and  struggles  chiefly  because  they 
live  on  the  hill  and  have  no  facts  about 
the  life  of  the  masses  who  live  in  the 
valley  below. 

Establish  Ethical  Standards.— In  the 
second  place,  aside  from  the  reports 
consisting    mainly    of    statements    of 
facts  about  which  we  have  been  dis- 
coursing, the  recent  pronouncements  of 
religious   bodies   that  have   attracted 
the  favorable  attention  of  the  more 
radical  workers  have  been  chiefly  in  the 
nature  of  attempts  to  interpret  Chris- 
tian or  New  Testament  ethics  in  its 
bearing  on  social  and  industrial  prob- 
lems.    The  various  "social  creeds"  of 
the  churches  and   similar  documents 
try  to  point  out  what  long  hours,  low 
wages,  child  labor,  bad  housing,  indus- 
trial  espionage,   the   open   shop,   the 
closed  shop,  soldiering  on  the  job,  etc., 
look  like  from  the  point  of  view  of  our 


<,\ 


Labor's  View  of  the  Function  of  the  Church 


115 


> 


I » 


i> 


X 


«»• 


highest  moral  principles.  They  are 
thus  touching  upon  one  of  the  funda- 
mental problems  of  our  day. 

Our  moral  selves  are  divided.     Some 
are   not   yet   conscious    of   the   fact. 
Others  are  aware  that  the  modern  soul 
is  sick  but  do  not  know  why.     Men 
have  one  standard  in  the  home  and  the 
Church,  and  another  in  business.     At 
home  Smith  is  kind,  considerate,  pa- 
tient, unselfish;  he  would  not  willingly 
hurt  anyone.     As  the  m^anager  of  a 
mine  or  factory.  Smith  deals  with  men 
as  if  they  were   pawns  or  pieces  of 
machinery,  he  arrogantly  denies  them 
self-expression,  he  hires  thugs  and  spies, 
he  pays  wages  on  which  men  cannot 
live  decently,  he  lays  men  off  the  mo- 
ment he  can  no  longer  employ  them  at 
a  profit.     To  some  extent  the  worker 
also  has  a  double  moral  standard,  one 
for  dealing  with  his  family  and  fellow- 
workers,  another  for  bosses  and  scabs. 
Now  what  will  be  the  result  of  per- 
sistently turning  upon  such  facts  as 
these  ui)on  the  various  phases  of  our 
industrial  life,  the  light  of  our  highest 
ethical  principles?     For  one  thing,  it 
must  then  eventually  grow  clear  to  all 
honest  men  and  women  that  a  system 
based  on  imrestrained  economic  compe- 
tition, on  the  principle  of  buying  in  the 
cheapest   market   and   selling   in   the 
highest,  inevitably  involves  people  in  a 
double  moral  life.     It  sets  employer 
against  employer.     It  sets  the  worker 
to  fighting  his  fellow-worker  for  a  job. 
It  sets  worker  and  employer  to  fighting 
each  other.     The  one  buys  labor  as 
cheaply  as  he  can,  if  he  is  to  compete 
successfully;  the  other  sells  his  labor  as 
dear  as  possible  and  gets  his  wages  for 
as  cheap  a  return  as  possible.     If  it  ap- 
pear that  neither  workers  nor  employers 
are  wicked  men  trying  in  malice  or  in 
ignorance  to  kill  each  other,  that  both 
are  entangled  in  a  stupid  system  which 
it  may  not  be  to  the  immediate  finan- 
cial interest  of  the  employer  to  change 


but  which  it  is  to  his  moral  interest  to 
change,  to  alter  which  may  deprive 
some  of  individual  profits  but  must 
ultimately  mean  increased  well-being, 
wholeness  of  soul,  for  all,  will  not  all 
men  and  women  of  good  will  be  to 
some  extent  impelled  to  work  together 
for  desirable  social  changes?  And  will 
not  some  of  the  personal  bitterness  that 
now  marks  the  so-called  struggle  be- 
tween capital  and  labor  be  eliminated 
when  the  capitalist  understands  the 
moral  implications  of  his  position,  and 
when  the  worker  understands  that  the 
capitalist  is  in  no  slight  degree  the  vic- 
tim with  him  of  a  stupid  economic 
order? 

Again,  the  workers'  struggle  to  im- 
prove their  conditions  and  to  gain  in- 
creasing control  over  their  life  and  work 
is  bound  to  continue.     Nothing  can 
stop  it.     Nothing  ought  to  stop  it.     If 
the  masses  of  men  are  coming  of  age 
and  beginning  to  think,  speak  and  act 
for  themselves,  let  all  honest  souls  re- 
joice.    Now     although     the     upward 
movement  of  the  workers  must  ulti- 
mately mean  greater  well-being  for  all, 
it  will  in  the  first  instance  certainly 
mean  less  of  special  privilege,  arbitrary 
authority  and  personal  profit  for  some. 
History  makes  it  sufficiently  clear  that 
privileged  groups  are  likely  to  hold  to 
their  privileges  very  tenaciously,  and 
that    privileged    ones    determined    to 
cling  to  privilege,  arrayed  on  the  one 
hand,    and   unprivileged   ones    deter- 
mined   on   freedom,   arrayed    on    the 
other,  means  costly  conflict.     So  long 
as  possessors  of  privilege  have  clear  con- 
sciences they  will  fight  to  the  end.     It 
is  a  possible  function  of  the  Church  to 
show  that  the  moral  position  of  privi- 
leged classes  today  is  not  tenable,  to 
stir  up  their  consciences,  and  to  remove 
their   moral   foundations   from   under 
them,  by  showing  them  what  it  would 
mean  if  we  applied  to  social  relations 
the  same  standard  that  we  do  apply  in 


f 


J!»f  *-.U"-<.-'r~at  ■ 


116 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


I 


manv  personal  relations  so  that  they 
may  be  willing  to  yield  gradually  to 
social  change.  American  workers  cer- 
tainly do  not  crave  a  fight  nor  a  bloody 
revolution,  but  even  in  America  the 
result  of  blind  reaction  and  desperate 
clinging  to  special  privilege  at  any  cost, 
cannot  l)e  looked  forward  to  with 
equanimity. 

This,  then,  sets  forth  my  conception 
of  how  a  number  of  radical  workers 
think  the  (^hiu-ch  may  function  in  the 
present  industrial  situation.  They  do 
not  ask  the  churches  to  go  into  the 
business  of  organizing  workers.  They 
do  not  expect  the  churches  to  take  sides 
in  most  industrial  struggles.  They  do 
not  ask  the  churches  for  approval  of  all 
that  labor  may  do.     They  do  not  ask 


to  be  excluded  from  moral  criticism. 
But   they   do   not   want    to    see    the 
churches  standing  by  indifferent  or  en- 
tirely   absorl)ed    in    contemplation   of 
heaven,  while  the  devil  runs  the  earth, 
or  throwing  the  weight  of  their  moral 
influence  on  the  side  of  labor's  enemies. 
They  should  like  to  see  the  Church  find 
and^  insist    u])on    the    publication    of 
Facts,  Facts,  Facts.     And  they  should 
like  to   see  the  churches  persistently 
study  and  proclaim  the  ultimate  nioral 
implications  of  what   goes  on  in  our 
turbulent  industrial  life. 

Whatever  may  be  the  case  in  other 
lands,  it  has  been  abundantly  demon- 
strated that  in  America,  when  the 
Church  does  these  things  the  workers 
will  listen  with  respect  and  gratitude. 


* 


The  Churches*  Ministry  to  Workers 

By  Rev.  G.  S.  Lackland 

Pastor,  Grace  Community  Church,  Denver,  Colorado 


J>^ 


I  THINK  I  know  where  labor  has 
mad6  its  mistake,"  declared  C.  M. 
Moore,  former  president  of  Colorado 
State  Federation  of  Labor,  in  Grace 
Community  Church,  Denver,  Colorado 
May  7,  1922.  "Labor  has  failed  to 
have  the  dynamic  of  brotherhood.  We 
have  been  too  ready  to  use  the  strike 
and  too  frequently  have  failed  to  apply 
N  the  Golden  Rule  by  methods  of  con- 

ciliation. My  greatest  regret  is  that  I 
did  not  know  the  possibilities  of  Chris- 
tianity for  human  emancipation.  Had 
I  but  known,  my  twenty  years  of  serv- 
ice in  the  labor  world  would  have 
been  much  more  effective."  The  vast 
congregation  thundered  their  approval 
when  he  concluded. 

Organized  labor  constitutes  the  great- 
*  est  untouched  field  that  Christianity 
has  in  America.  If  a  prophet  should 
arise  and  tell  of  a  foreign  field  of  twenty 
millions  of  folks  who  are  untouched  by 
the  Church,  instantly  appeals  would  be 
made  and  a  statesmenlike  program  out- 
lined. Yet  in  the  ecclesiastical  world 
there  is  not  an  intelligent  effort  being 
made  by  any  denomination  to  reach 
the  labor  group  as  such. 

Ministers  elbow  each  other  trying 
to  be  popular  with  business  circles. 
There  is  a  great  waiting  list  of  pastors 
X  seeking  admission  to'  business  men's 
clubs.  Yet  in  the  average  city  it  is 
safe  to  state  that  90  per  cent  of  the 
ministers  have  never  been  inside  of  a 

union  hall. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  a  Church  to 
maintain  a  bias  toward  labor  to  reach 
this  group.  Labor  does  not  usually  ask 
for  special  privilege.  They  want  equal 
consideration.  In  some  instances, 
^        where  the  industrial  conflict  has  been 


bitter,  it  is  absolutely  essential  for  the 
Church  to  face  the  facts  and  send  chap- 
lains to  both  armies. 

No  Church  emi)hasizing  a  denomi- 
national appeal  can  successfully  reach 
the  labor  group.  There  is  no  chiu*ch  in 
America  but  would  be  glad  to  receive 
labor  into  its  folds  for  what  labor  could 
do  for  the  Church.  The  Great  Need  is 
for  the  Church  to  Challenge  the  Labor 
World  for  What  We  Can  Do  for  Labor. 

What  to  Do 
The  message  of  the  Church  nuist  be 
very  simple  and  clear  cut.     First  we 
must  place  the  child  in  its  midst.     We 
must  insist  that  the  first  consideration 
for  industry,  government  and  society 
in  general  is  a  square  deal  for  the  child. 
Any    conditions    which    prevent    the 
fullest  possible  development  of  child- 
hood are  positively  antichristian  and 
should    be    condemned     unsparingly. 
With  but  one  per  cent  of  our  young  peo- 
ple in  college  during  the  period  of  the 
greatest  mental  activity,  viz.,  from  six- 
teen to  twenty-four  years  of  age,  our 
industrial  situation  is  full  of  complex- 
ity.    Most   of    labor's    sins    can    be 
charged  to  under-schooling  of  its  lead- 
ers.    If  the  Church  does  not  stand  for 
abundant  life  for  all  children  its  mes- 
sage is  a  farce  and  will  be  repudiated 
by  the  millions  of  workers. 

The  Church  must  know  its  com- 
munity. How  otherwise  can  it  minis- 
ter to  a  group,  whose  needs  it  does  not 
know?  It  should  support  every  civic 
agency  that  is  building  the  manhood  of 
its  constituency.  It  must  denounce 
as  unchristian  every  organization  and 
custom  which  cramps  or  dwarfs  human 
personality. 
117 


pf*  II     I  ■■'.'  ■ 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


i| 


If  a  Church  is  to  reach  workingmen 
it  must  go  to  them.  Union  halls  are 
open  to  the  public.  Every  ministerial 
association  should  send  a  fraternal 
delegate  to  the  central  labor  body. 
This  has  frequently  been  done.  But 
has  the  Church  been  as  urgent  in  re- 
questing labor  to  send  fraternal  dele- 
gates to  ecclesiastical  meetings? 

If  the  leader  should  meet  with  either 
insult  or  rebuff  he  should  manifest  a 
patient  Christian  spirit.  Let  him  re- 
flect that  for  twenty  years  most  of  the 
pastors  reported  in  the  press  have  been 
antagonistic  to  organized  labor.  Labor 
has  been  alienated  for  thirty  years  and 
it  cannot  be  won  back  in  a  few  weeks. 
Labor  is  doing  the  fair  thing  if  it  puts 
the  Chiu-ch  on  trial.  Let  the  Church 
welcome  investigation  as  to  the  fairness 
of  its  attitudes  on  industrial  matters. 

How  TO  Do  It 

The  rank  and  file  of  labor  are  not 
aware  that  the  Protestant,  Catholic 
and  Jewish  Sects  have  declared  them- 
selves on  industrial  problems.  The 
reading  of  these  statements  will  always 
produce  an  electrical  effect.  The 
Church  will  fail  (and  it  ought  to  fail)  if 
it  offers  a  program  to  labor  with  any- 
thing but  an  unselfish  desire  to  aid  in 
the  struggle  for  a  better  world. 

No  question  arouses  the  ire  of  the 
WTiter  more  than  "what  gain  has  your 
Church  received  as  a  result  of  your  ac- 
tivities in  the  labor  world .^ "  Shades  of 
Him  who  took  the  Towel !  Has  profit 
so  gripped  the  world  that  even  the 
Church  will  not  lose  its  life  in  order  to 
find  it.^  Any  selfish  desire  on  the  part 
of  the  Church  will  doom  any  program 
presented  to  labor.  That  is  just  ex- 
actly what  laborers  are  suspicious  of. 

The  Open  Forum  Movement  pre- 
sents the  best  means  of  reaching  the 
labor  world.  If  there  is  no  open  forum 
in  a  city  by  all  means  make  the  forum 
a  community  organization. 


The  Denver  Open  Forum  is  operated 
by  a  Committee  of  One  Hundred. 
Fifty  of  these  are  delegates  from  as 
many  labor  bodies.  The  other  fifty 
include  the  Governor  of  Colorado,  the 
Mayor  of  Denver,  representatives  from 
the  American  Legion,  Parent-Jeachers' 
Association,  Woman's  Clubs,  Teach- 
ers' Associations,  each  denomination, 
etc. 

Visiting  over  one  hundred  unions  in 
appealing  for  free  speech  and  open  dis- 
cussion which  the  Forum  provides 
proved  to  be  an  ideal  introduction  to 
the  labor  world.  Our  Forum  operates 
from  October  to  March  inclusive  on 
Sunday  afternoons.  It  is  held  in  the 
church  auditorium.  Announcements 
are  welcomed  by  labor  organizations. 
One  half  the  audience  is  from  this 
group.  They  have  frequently  sent 
liberal  contributions  for  the  support 
of  the  Forum. 

In  the  Forum  several  leaders  of  vari- 
ous types  of  religious  movements  have 
appeared  as  speakers.  The  result  has 
been  that  the  keenest  leader  of  Den- 
ver radicalism  stated  publicly:  "The 
Church  is  the  best  friend  labor  and  the 
liberal  movement  has." 

Community  crises  are  opportunities 
for  the  Church  to  demonstrate  its 
power  of  reconciliation.  The  first  time 
that  Jews,  Catholics  and  Protestants 
ever  united  in  Denver  was  to  obtain  the 
facts  in  the  Denver  tramway  strike. 
This  did  more  to  bridge  the  gap  between 
capital  and  labor  than  anything  that 
has  occurred  in  a  generation. 

Churches  should  seek  to  put  their 
property  at  the  service  of  the  labor 
movement  as  well  as  of  other  civic 
bodies.  A  hotel  refused  labor  its 
auditorium  for  the  purpose  of  present- 
ing its  views  on  the  open  shop.  Grace 
Chiu-ch  instantly  offered  its  audito- 
rium, realizing  that  free  speech  was  at 
stake. 

Churches  with  adequate  equipment 


/.' 


The  Churches'  Ministry  to  Workers 


119 


N 


for  religious  education  are  in  splendid 
position  to  house  the  newLabor-Educa- 
^  tional  Movement.     What  labor  will  be 

tomorrow  depends  upon  the  ideas  of 
the  younger  group.  Left  to  chance 
they  may  be  noisily  and  inefficiently 
radical  with  no  balance  to  prepare  them 
to  assume  a  greater  management  in  in- 
dustry. What  avail  would  political  or 
direct  action  be  if  by  securing  direction 
of  industry  they  found  themselves  un- 
able to  manage  it.^  The  British  Labor 
Movement  realizes  that  to  be  given 
control  of  the  industries  today  would 
be  disastrous.  They  have  not  enough 
trained  executives. 

Employing  groups  are  welcoming 
this  new  educational  movement.  It  is 
making  more  efficient  workers  and 
gives  the  employer  a  more  broad- 
minded  group  with  which  to  bargain 
collectively.  In  Denver,  under  the 
leadership  of  Rev.  C.  C.  Webber,  a 
Labor  College  has  been  started.  The 
men  insisted  that  Grace  Church  was 
the  best  meeting-place  in  the  city. 
The  second  semester  saw  a  doubled  en- 
rollment. 

During  the  strike  of  the  packing 
house  employees,  a  group  of  pastors 
organized  an  extension  of  the  Labor 
College  and  went  to  the  strikers'  hall 
every  day  and  taught  the  men  who 
otherwise  would  have  been  idle.  Vari- 
ous subjects  were  discussed.  To  be- 
hold four  hundred  men  studying  in- 
ternational problems  for  an  hour  at  a 
time  instead  of  rumbling  discontent, 
A-  is  a  new  spectacle  in  the  labor 
world. 

Labor  evangelism  is  still  in  its  in- 
fancy. Men  like  Dr.  Harry  F.  Ward, 
Charles  Stelzle  or  J.  Stitt  Wilson  can 
attract  thousands  of  toilers  to  a  course 
of  lectures.  Were  this  done  by  local 
pastors  either  individually  or  collec- 
tively the  harvest  would  be  enor- 
^  mous.     Last  winter  a  church  in  Denver 

put  on  a  course  of  four  lectures  for 


labor  and  the  church  was  crowded. 
Even  a  blizzard  did  not  dampen  their 
ardor.  At  the  conclusion  the  crowd 
requested  the  pastor  to  make  it  an 
annual  affair. 

Men's  Adult  Bible  Classes  can  do  a 
splendid  piece  of  work  by  in\'iting  labor 
leaders  to  address  them  and  then  in- 
viting the  particular  organizations  to 
which  these  men  belong  to  attend  and 
hear  them.  The  labor  group  not  in- 
frequently invites  ministers  to  address 
them  with  the  hope  of  awakening  the 
preacher  to  their  problems.  Let  the 
Church  reverse  the  process. 

The  labor  world  needs  and  craves 
social  life.  The  churches  have  not  in 
the  past  furnished  this.  We  have  been 
too  busy  uttering  condemnations  of 
improper  amusements  to  take  time  to 
afford  clean  and  wholesome  recreation. 
A  community  house  is  a  necessity  to 
every  city  church.  Why  permit  the 
play  life  of  young  people  to  be  com- 
mercialized.^ It  is  as  sacred  as  their 
educational  life.  It  plays  just  as  great 
a  part  in  their  character  formation  and 
general  development.  Last  year  in  the 
community  activities  of  Grace  Church 
over  seventy-six  thousand  young  i)eo- 
ple  were  ministered  to. 

The  church  school  has  an  opportu- 
nity to  form  groups  from  men  and 
women  who  are  not  affiliated  with  any 
church  group.  Let  them  discuss  their 
own  ideals  in  the  light  of  Christian 
principles.  Many  a  so-called  agnostic 
has  declared  in  our  Open  Forum  Men's 
Bible  Class:  "I  believe  in  Christianity 
of  the  kind  this  class  advocates  as  much 
as  any  member." 

The  Church  has  done  too  much  talk- 
ing and  too  little  listening.  The 
masses  today  know  what  they  want. 
The  Church  would  do  well  to  stop  and 
listen  to  them.  Dr.  Gordon's  church  in 
San  Francisco  is  crowded  Wednesday 
evenings  because  he  answers  questions 
that  the  people  propound  to  him. 


^■iii 


120 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


s 

K 


The  Cliurch  niusl  be  careful  that  it 
practices  its  own  social  creed  in  its 
relationship  as  an  employer  or  pur- 
chaser. But  a  fraction  of  church  pub- 
lications bear  the  union  label.  Not 
many  churches  employ  union  labor. 
It  would  i)ay  vast  dividends,  however, 
if  the  Church  would  begin  intelligently 
to  lead  the  way  in  the  practice  of  its 
social  ideals. 

Contrary  to  general  and  prevailing 
opinion,  the  labor  group  does  not  want 
its  sins  ignored.     It  loves  a  two-fisted 
personality.     It  has  a   keen   sense  of 
humor.     Hold  up  its  faults  in  carica- 
tiu-e  and  you  will  instantly  obtain  a 
response.     Whatever   else   labor   may 
be,  it   is   not   sensitive.     It   will  take 
more  criticism  jo^-fullv  than  anv  exist- 
mg    organization.     It    criticises    itself 
more  frequently  and  \ngorously  than 
any  other  group.     Let   any  preacher 
announce  for  two  weeks  that  he  will 
preach  on  "What's  the  Matter  with 
Organized  Labor,"  send  an  invitation 
to  the  labor  groups  and  he  will  have  a 
full  house — mostly  workers.     Let  him 
reverse  the  process  and  announce  he 
will  speak  on  "What's  the  Matter  with 
Business,"     invite    the    Chamber    of 
Commerce,  and  see  how  many  lead- 
ing business  men  are  searching  for  the 
light! 

A  Good  Will  Council 

The  greatest  field  for  church  activity 
is  in  that  of  conciliation.  Herbert 
Hoover  said  recently  in  Denver,  after 
trying  to  adjust  the  water  claims  of 
various  states  in  the  Colorado  Ri\'er 
basin,  "this  is  no  job  for  an  engineer, 
it  is  a  task  for  an  evangelist." 

The  day  is  rapidly  approaching 
when  the  industrial  engineers  will 
recognize  the  need  of  good  will  in  the 
settling  of  industrial  disputes.  Put 
human  souf-^  ahead  of  other  considera- 
tions and  labor  disputes  can  soon  be 
amicably  adjusted. 


In  December  1920,  after  an  appeal 
by  a  minister  the  Denver  Trades  and 
Labor  Assembly  passed  the  following 
resolution: 

Whereas,  capital  and  labor  are  rapidly 
drifting  toward  a  condition  of  industrial 
warfare  which  will  be  disastrous  to  the 
general  welfare  of  America,  and, 

Whereas,  we  believe  that  it  is  the  duty 
of  men  to  reason  together  rather  than  to 
blindly  seek  selfish  advantage,  and 

Whereas,  labor  is  willing  to  rest  its  case 
upon  the  application  of  the  Golden  Rule 
and  the  teachings  of  tlie  Carpenter  of 
Nazareth ;  therefore 

lie  It  Resolved,  That  we.  The  Trades  and 
Labor  Assembly  of  Denver,  invite  the  em- 
ployers of  Denver,  to  appoint  a  committee 
of  six  members  to  meet  with  representatives 
of  the  Trades  and  Labor  Assembly  and  form 
a  Good  Will  Council.  This  l)ody  shall  select 
a  thirteenth  man  by  mutual  agreement  to 
he  the  presiding  officer.  We  suggest  that 
this  Good  Will  Council  meet  every  two 
weeks.  To  this  body  any  industrial  dis- 
pute or  difficulty  may  be  referred. 

After  slumbering  in  the  archives  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  for  a  year, 
this  resolution  was  brought  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  members  by  this  minis- 
ter. The  members  demanded  action. 
The  committee  approved.  It  may 
mean  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the 
industrial  world. 

Labor  is  changing  its  attitude  toward 
the  Church.  Frank  Morrison  recently 
stated  that  the  Church  was  the  only 
organized  body  which  had  consistently 
stood  for  collective  bargaining  during 
the  so-called  Open  Shop  Movement. 
To  arouse  the  dormant  spiritual  im- 
pulse underlying  the  labor  world  is 
surely  a  task  with  which  to  challenge 
our  Christian  young  people.  All  over 
the  West,  college  men  are  responding 
to  the  appeal  for  a  new  type  of  ministry 
in  behalf  of  the  common  people.  We 
have  known  men  to  sacrifice  three 
months  pay  during  a  sympathetic 
strike.     It  may  be  foolish  and  quixotic, 


The  Churches'  Ministry  to  Work 


ERS 


121 


but  of  such  daring  was  the  program  of 
the  Man  of  Galilee. 

Grace  C'hurch  has  over  two  hundred 
members  of  organized  labor  on  her  roll 
as  members.  Many  are  on  her  Official 
Board.  The  response  is  growing  all 
the  time.  If  Vanderlip  and  Schwab 
are  correct  in  stating  that  the  future 
will  see  the  direction  of  industry  come 
more  and  more  into  the  hands  of  the 
labor  group,  the  Church  must  face 
this  fact  or  pay  the  price  in  the  to- 
morrow. 


! 


X 


The  conclusion  of  The  Inside  of  the 
Cup  is  being  challenged  today.  Men 
do  not  have  to  sell  their  souls  to  remain 
in  the  ministry.  The  Eldon  Parrs  of 
yesterday  are  not  as  essential  even  as 
figureheads  as  they  were.  The  Church 
is  supported  by  the  masses.  The  man 
on  the  outside  will  listen  to  the  voice  of 
a  daring  prophet  fighting  with  a  reli- 
gious passion  for  social  justice.  The 
Church  must  save  the  people  or  make 
way  for  a  religious  organization  that 
will. 


t 


I 


The  Pastor  and  the  Workingmen  of 

His  Parish 

By  Rev.  Edwin  V.  O'Hara,  LL.D. 

Former  Chairman,  Oregon  Industrial  Welfare  Commission 


THE  relationship  of  the  pastor  to 
his  people  is  such  as  to  warrant 
particular  interest  on  his  part  in  the 
welfare    of    the    workingmen    of    his 
parish.     Few  Catholic  parishes  will  be 
found  in  industrial  centers  in  which  the 
laboring  men  do  not  constitute  a  very 
large  percentage  of  the  congregation. 
The  obvious  duty  of  entering  into  the 
problems  of  his  laboring  men,  incum- 
bent on  the  Catholic  priest,  has,  more- 
over, been   more   than  once  enforced 
by  specific  instructions  from  the  Sover- 
eign Pontiff.     In  his  famous  encyclical 
on   the    "Condition   of   the    Working 
Classes,"  Pope  Leo  XIII,  after  setting 
forth  the  social  program  of  the  Church, 
concludes  by  explicitly  placing  on  the 
clergy,  in  union  with  their  bishops,  the 
task  of  persistent  and  energetic  action 
in   behalf  of  the  laboring  class.     He 
writes:  "Every  minister  of  holy  religion 
must  throw  into  the  conflict  (in  behalf 
of  social  justice  and  charity)  all  the 
energy'  of  his  mind  and  all  the  strength 
of  his  endurance."   Similar  injunctions 
have  been  addressed  to  the  clergy  by 
Pius  X  and  Benedict  XV. 

In  fulfilling  these  injunctions  the 
pastor  will  find  that  his  activities  in 
behalf  of  his  workingmen  will  fall  into 
three  general  channels,  the  currents  of 
which  flow  largely  in  the  same  direction 
and  frequently  converge.  These  chan- 
nels are  education,  organization,  and 
legislation. 

Education 

It  will  be  the  duty  of  the  pastor  in 
industrial  centers  to  explain  to  his  peo- 
ple clearly  and  frequently  the  Christian 
laws  of  justice  and  of  charity  as  they 
affect    employer    and    employee.     He 


will  point  out  with  Leo  XIII  that  a 
great  error  in  the  discussion  of  indus- 
trial problems  is  to  possess  one's  self  of 
the  idea  that  class  is  naturallv  hostile 
to  class;  that  rich  and  poor  are  in- 
tended by  nature  to  live  at  war  with 
one  another.     On  the  contrary,  each 
requires    the    other;    capital    cannot 
thrive  without  labor,  nor  labor  without 
capital.     He  will  go  on  to  teach  that 
religion  requires  the  laboring  man  to 
carry  out  honestly  and  well  all  equi- 
table agreements  fairly  made;  never  to 
injure  capital,  nor  to  outrage  the  per- 
son of  an  employer;  never  to  employ 
violence  in  representing  his  own  cause, 
nor   to  engage   in   riot  and   disorder. 
Religion,  he  will  continue,  teaches  the 
employer  that  his  working  people  are 
not  his  slaves;  that  he  must  respect  in 
every  man  his  dignity  as  a  Christian; 
that  labor  is  nothing  to  be  ashamed  of, 
but  that  it  is  shameful  and  inhuman  to 
treat  men  like  chattels  in  order  to  make 
money,  or  to  look  upon  them  as  merely 
so  much  muscle  or  physical  power;  that 
the  employer  must  see  that  his  work- 
men have  time  for  their  duties  of  piety 
and  the  obligations  of  their  family  life; 
that  they  must  not  be  taxed  beyond 
their  strength  or  employed  in  work  un- 
suited  to  their  sex  or  age;  that  the  work- 
men are  entitled  to  a  living  wage,  and 
that  to  exercise  pressure  for  the  sake  of 
gain  upon  the  indigent  and  destitute, 
and  to  make  one's  profit  out  of  the  need 
of  another,  is  condemned  by  all  laws, 
human  and  divine.     These  principles 
will  be  the  staple  of  instruction  by 
which  the  pastor  will  seek  to  educate 
his  people  to  a  Christian  conscience  in 
regard  to  the  relations  of  employers 
and  workmen;  for,"  were  these  precepts 


The  Pastor  and  the  Workingmen 


128 


r 


carefully  obeyed  and  followed  out," 
asks  Leo  XIII,  "would  not  strife  die 
out  and  cease.?" 

But  the  pastor  cannot  be  satisfied 
with  mere  instruction  and  exhortation. 
This  was  thoroughly  understood  by 
Bishop  Ketteler,  when  he  put  into  the 
mouths  of  the  infidel  workmen  of  his 
day  the  following  words:  "Of  what  use 
are  your  fine  teachings  to  me  ?  What  is 
the  good  of  your  referring  me  by  way 
of  consolation  to  the  next  world,  if  in 
this  world  you  let  me  and  my  wife 
perish  with  hunger;  you  are  not  seek- 
ing my  welfare,  you  are  looking  for 
something  else. " 

Organization 

It  will  devolve  on  the  pastor  to  un- 
dertake to  assist  his  workingmen  by 
organization  and  legislation.     Most  of 
the   progress    made    by    the   working 
classes  in  recent  time  has   been  due 
to  organization,  and  it  will  be  the  duty 
«    of  the  clergy  to  encourage  every  form 
of   workmen's    association    which    le- 
gitimately  promotes    the    workmen's 
interests.    Much  has  been  written  con- 
cerning freedom  of  contract  and  the 
importance  of  allowing  each   man  to 
bargain  for  himself.     After  a  long  and 
painful  struggle  the  workingman  has 
realized  that  there  is  no  equality  of 
bargaining  power  when  the  individual 
workman  is  pitted  against  the  large 
employer.     For  freedom  of  contract  it 
is  necessary  that  the  workingmen  com- 
j^        bine  and  bargain  collectively  with  their 
employers,  so  that  there  may  be  some 
semblance   of   equality    between    the 
two  contracting  parties.    The  so-called 
American  plan  whereby  the  employer 
refuses  to  deal  with  his  employees  col- 
lectively is,  under  a  specious  pretense 
of  liberality,  merely  a  hollow  sham. 
The  power  of  the  employer  to  withhold 
bread  is  a  vastly  greater  advantage 
•♦         than  the  power  of  the  individual  em- 
ployee to  refuse  to  labor.     To  speak  of 


freedom  of  contract  between  the  indi- 
vidual employee,  whose  family  may  be 
on  the  verge  of  starvation,  and  the 
modern  accumulation  of  capital  that 
seeks  to  employ  labor,  is  simply  gro- 
tesque humor.  The  importance  of 
workmen's  associations  is  set  forth  by 
Leo  XIII  and  the  encouragement  of 
labor  unions  will  properly  claim  the 
interest  of  the  parish  priest. 

It  will,  however,  not  be  suflScient  to 
encourage  the  organization  of  labor  as- 
sociations, and  to  promote  an  increase 
of  their  membership,  but  it  will  be  nec- 
essary for  the  pastor  to  impress  upon 
the  members  of  the  unions  who  belong 
to  his  own  congregation  the  importance 
of  electing  good  men  to  leadership,  and 
of  recognizing  that  the  union  is  not 
merely  an  economic  institution  but  has 
moral  aspects  as  well.     Perhaps  the 
gravest  injury  done  to  the  cause  of 
labor  in  our  time  has  been  through  un- 
principled leaders  and  a  disregard  of 
the  moral  principles  which  must  pro- 
vide the  basis  of  permanent  association. 
In  the  field  of  cooperation  laboring 
men     have     successfully     maintained 
stores  which  have  proven  a  boon  to 
their  members.     One   form   of    coop- 
eration   deserves    especial    attention: 
namely,  the  establishment  of  a  coopera- 
tive credit  association  in  a  parish  which 
will  free  the  laboring  man  from  the 
clutches  of  the  loan  shark,  and  will 
enable   him   to   secure   necessary   ad- 
vances of  money  on  reasonable  terms 
and  without  placing  him  in  the  power 
of  the  lender.     Finally,  the  establish- 
ment of  parish  study  groups  among  la- 
boring men  will  bo  found  of  great  serv- 
ice as  a  means  of  inculcating  Christian 
principles  in  regard  to  these  economic 
issues. 

Legisl^^tion 

The  utility  of  organization  cannot 
be  questioned.  Nevertheless,  there  are 
limits  to  its  successful  activity.     There 


122 


IF 


124 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


are  great  groups  of  working  people 
whom  it  is  difficult  to  organize,  and  up 
to  the  present  only  a  comparatively 
small  percentage  of  workers  are  actu- 
ally organized.  It  is  the  duty  of  the 
state  to  prevent  any  class  of  the  popu- 
lation from  becoming  submerged,  and 
consequently  the  pastor  will,  in  his 
solicitude  for  his  people,  urge  the 
necessary  legislation  to  protect  them. 
The  problem  of  the  inadequacy  of 
women's  wages  is  present  in  most 
American  cities,  and  the  program  for 
minimum  wage  legislation  should 
secure  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the 
clergy. 

Experience  has  shown  that  such 
legislation  is  not  attended  by  the  dis- 
advantages which  are  commonly  urged 
against  it.  A  word  of  caution,  how- 
ever, should  be  uttered  in  regard  to 
the  arguments  which  should  be  used 
in  urging  minimum  wage  legislation. 
There  is  a  temptation  to  make  a  sensa- 
tional appeal  setting  forth  the  moral 
dangers  which  surround  inadequately 
paid  young  women  in  industry.  The 
difficulty  with  this  line  of  argument 
is  that  it  is  largely  an  insult  to  the 
workers  whose  status  is  to  be  im- 
proved, and  it  leads  to  a  neglect  of  the 
substantial  fact  that  these  underpaid 
workers  are  living  on  insufficient 
food,  are  badly  housed  and  poorly 
clothed. 

A  similar  interest  will  be  manifested 
by  the  pastor  in  the  limitation  of  hours 
of  labor,  both  of  women  and  of.  men, 
especially  in  the  prohibiting,  as  far  as 
possible,  of  Sunday  work  and  of  late 
night  work.  I  recall  that  when  the 
Industrial  Welfare  Commission  of  Ore- 
gon first  entered  a  ruling  prohibiting 
work  for  women  after  six  p.m.  in  the 
department  stores,  many  young  women 
had  for  the  first  time  in  months  a  rea- 


sonable opportunity  to  go  to  church 
Sunday  morning. 

Workmen's  compensation  legislation 
has  now  come  in  most  of  our  states,  and 
with  it  the  abolition  of  the  common  law 
pleas  of  contributory  negligence  and 
assumption  of  risk,  which  enabled  the 
liability  insurance  companies  to  pre- 
vent the  injured  workman  from  receiv- 
ing compensation;  but  the  principle  of 
compensation  needs  to  be  maintained 
and  extended,  the  importance  of  safety 
devices  on  machinery  insisted  upon, 
and  many  occupational  diseases  should 
be  brought  under  the  operation  of 
compensation. 

The  pastor  will  be  concerned,  also, 
with  the  living  conditions  of  his  work- 
ing people,  and  will  feel  it  his  duty  to 
promote  an  adequate  housing  code, 
which  will  require  the  homes  of  his  peo- 
ple to  be  furnished  with  sufficient  sun- 
light and  fresh  air,  and  open  spaces  for 
children's  recreation.  It  will  be  neces- 
sary to  resist  the  wild  and  imscrupulous 
advertising  of  city  commercial  clubs, 
which  lead  multitudes  of  unskilled 
laborers  to  congregate  in  congested 
centers,  flooding  the  labor  market  and 
overcrowding  the  tenements.  I  have 
attended  dying  men  in  workingmen's 
hotels  in  rooms  where  no  light  but  that 
cast  by  the  flickering  flame  of  the  gas 
jet  ever  penetrated.  Such  conditions 
will  be  found  wherever  there  is  a  lack 
of  adequate  housing  legislation,  or  a 
neglect  of  its  enforcement. 

The  pastor,  too,  will  be  interested  in 
the  promotion  of  legislation  regulating 
employment  bureaus,  preventing  the 
exploitation  of  men  who  pay  for  their 
jobs.  The  old  story  of  the  three  groups 
of  men  on  a  job,  the  one  going,  the  one 
coming,  and  the  one  working,  is  a  grim 
commentary  on  unregulated  employ- 
ment offices. 


i 


X- 


Policy  and  Program  of  the  Protestant  Churches 

By  Rev.  Worth  M.  Tippy 

Executive  Secretary,  Commission  on  the  Church  and  Social  Service,  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches 

of  Christ  in  America 


THE  last  two  decades  have  wit- 
nessed what  amounts  to  a  revolu- 
tion in  the  attitude  of  the  Protestant 
churches  towards  industry.  Prior  to 
that  time,  the  churches  as  a  rule  took 
little  account  of  the  organized  human 
relationships  within  industry,  and  had 
few  purposeful  contacts  with  its  great 
affairs.  They  had  scarcely  begun  as 
yet  to  examine  its  unchristian  aspects 
and  the  effects  of  these  upon  the  hap- 
piness and  well-being  of  the  masses. 
Only  its  adventurous  minds  were  at 
work  on  the  concept  of  an  industry 
motivated  by  a  concern  for  human 
welfare  and  organized  on  Christian 
principles. 

But  manifestly  a  new  day  has  dawned 
and  a  new  spirit  is  in  the  churches.  It 
came  so  quietly  that  few  were  aware  of 
its  presence,  or  that  the  churches  had 
struck  their  tents,  until  the  summer 
of  1920,  when  the  Interchurch  World 
Movement  issued  its  Report  on  the 
Steel  Strike  of  1919.  Then  came,  a  few 
months  later,  the  Pastoral  Letter  on 
the  Open  Shop  Movement,  issued  by 
the  Federal  Council  of  Churches,  and  a 
similar  protest  from  the  National  Cath- 
olic Welfare  Council.  Industry  awak- 
ened to  the  presence  of  a  new  force  in 
its  midst  and  of  what  seemed  at  first  to 
most  business  men  an  alien,  uninformed 
and  unfriendly  force,  although  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  this  feeling  will  pass 
away  and  is  passing  away.  In  these 
and  subsequent  actions  by  the  churches, 
a  remarkable  thing  had  taken  place. 
Leaders  of  great  industries  found  them- 
selves called  to  account  by  their  spir- 
itual advisers,  and  their  amazement 
and    indignation    were   naturally   un- 


bounded. A  violent  controversy  en- 
sued, which,  while  regrettable,  was 
inevitable  and  necessary  if  the  Church 
was  to  have  permanent  influence.  An 
unfortunate  effort  were  made  to  stifle 
the  new  voice  by  the  use  of  personal  in- 
fluence, by  the  financial  boycott  and  by 
striking  at  the  cooperative  leadershij) 
of  the  Protestant  denominations.  But 
these  efforts  served  only  to  arouse  the 
churches,  to  hasten  the  work  of  edu- 
cation, and  to  consolidate  influences 
which  otherwise  might  have  been  slow 
in  coming  together.  The  churches 
are  now  emerging  from  a  certain  dis- 
cipline of  adversity  with  their  function 
better  understood  by  others  as  well  as 
by  themselves,  their  program  measur- 
ably advanced  and  with  a  manifest 
gain  in  public  influence.  They  will  l)e 
recognized  finally  as  a  sympathetic 
and  constructive  force  for  industrial 
progress. 

The  main  outline  of  the  industrial 
policy  of  the  Protestant  churches  is 
now  fairly  well  defined,  although  not 
uniform.  It  must  be  kept  in  mind  that 
the  great  Protestant  communions  are 
not  all  federated,  that  each  has  a  policy 
of  its  own  which  is  colored  by  its  his- 
torical development,  that  some  are 
farther  advanced  and  better  organized 
than  others  in  their  social  relationships, 
and  that  sharp  divergencies  in  social 
theory  sometimes  make  effective  co- 
operation difficult.  But  points  of  view 
pass  swiftly  from  pulpit  to  pulpit  and 
from  church  to  church  in  the  Protestant 
group  and  their  teachings  tend  to  con- 
verge. The  self-conscious  organizing 
center  is  in  the  Commisson  on  the 
Church    and    Social    Service    of    the 


125 


126 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


Program  of  the  Protestant  Churches 


127 


¥^ 


i) 


Federal  Council  of  Churches,  in  which 
the  denominational  departments  hav- 
ing to  do  with  industry  are  cooperating. 
^Yhen,  therefore,  one  attempts  to  state 
the  policy  and  program  of  the  Protes- 
tant churches  relative  to  industry,  it 
must  be  understood  as  a  statement  of 
the  cooperation  which  exists  in  the 
Commission  on  Social  Service,  and  as 
an  estimate  of  what  exists  outside  the 
Commission. 

Policy  of  the  Protestant 
Churches 

The  industrial  policy  of  the  Protes- 
tant chiu-ches  is  definitely  expressed  for 
the  cooperating  group  and  fairly  ex- 
pressed for  the  others  in  the  so-called 
"Social  Creed  of  the  Churches,"  which 
has  been  adopted  in  slightly  varying 
forms  by  several  Protestant  bodies  and 
by  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion and  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association.     This  statement  follows: 

Resolved:  That  we  reaffirm  the  social 
platform  adopted  by  the  first  Quadrennial 
in  Chicago,  1912,  and  ratified  by  the  Second 
Quadrennial  in  St.  Louis,  1916.  That  the 
churches  stand  for: 

I.  Equal  rights  and  justice  for  all  men  in 
all  stations  of  life. 

II.  Protection  of  the  family  by  the  single 
standard  of  purity,  uniform  divorce  laws, 
proper  regulation  of  marriage,  proper  hous- 
ing. 

III.  The  fullest  possible  development  of 
every  child,  especially  by  the  provision  of 
education  and  recreation. 

IV.  Abolition  of  child  labor. 

V.  Such  regulation  of  the  conditions  of 
toil  for  women  as  shall  safeguard  the  phys- 
ical and  moral  health  of  the  community. 

VI.  Abatement  and  prevention  of  pov- 
erty. 

VII.  Protection  of  the  individual  and 
society  from  the  social,  economic  and  moral 
waste  of  the  liquor  traffic. 

VIII.  Conservation  of  health. 

IX.  Protection  of  the  worker  from 
dangerous  machinery,  occupational  diseases 
and  mortality. 


X.  The  right  of  all  men  to  the  opportu- 
nity for  self-maintenance,  for  safeguarding 
this  right  against  encroachments  of  every 
kind,  for  the  protection  of  workers  from  the 
hardships  of  enforced  unemployment. 

XI.  Suitable  provision  for  the  old  age  of 
the  workers,  and  for  those  incapacitated  by 
injury. 

XII.  The  right  of  employees  and  em- 
ployers alike  to  organize;  and  for  adequate 
means  of  conciliation  and  arbitration  in 
industrial  disputes. 

XIII.  Release  from  employment  one  day 
in  seven. 

XIV.  Gradual  and  reasonable  reduction 
of  hours  of  labor  to  the  lowest  practicable 
point,  and  for  that  degree  of  leisure  for  all 
which  is  a  condition  of  the  highest  human 
life. 

XV.  A  living  wage  as  a  minimum  in  every 
industry,  and  for  the  highest  wage  that  each 
industry  can  afford. 

XVI.  A  new  emphasis  upon  the  ap- 
plication of  Christian  principles  to  the  ac- 
quisition and  use  of  property,  and  for  the 
most  equitable  division  of  the  product  of 
industry  that  can  ultimately  be  devised. 

The  Federal  Council  in  the  spring  of 
1919  adopted  four  additional  resolu- 
tions which  have  become  a  part  of  its 
social  and  industrial  platform. 

Facing  the  social  issues  involved  in  re- 
construction. Resolved:  That  we  affirm  as 
Christian  churches : 

1 .  That  the  teachings  of  Jesus  are  those 
of  essential  democracy  and  express  them- 
selves through  brotherhood  and  the  co- 
operation of  all  groups.  We  deplore  class 
struggle  and  declare  against  all  class  domi- 
nation, whether  of  capital  or  labor.  Sym- 
pathizing with  labor's  desire  for  a  better 
day  and  an  equitable  share  in  the  profits 
and  management  of  industry,  we  stand  for 
orderly  and  progressive  social  reconstruc- 
tion instead  of  revolution  by  violence. 

2.  That  an  ordered  and  constructive 
democracy  in  industry  is  as  necessary  as 
political  democracy,  and  that  collective 
bargaining  and  the  sharing  of  shop  control 
and  management  are  inevitable  steps  in  its 
attainment. 

3.  That  the  first  charge  upon  industry 


'A 


should  be  that  of  a  wage  sufficient  to  sup- 
port an  American  standard  of  living.  To 
that  end  we  advocate  the  guarantee  of  a 
minimum  wage,  the  control  of  unemploy- 
ment through  government  labor  exchanges, 
public  works,  land  settlement,  social  in- 
surance and  experimentation  in  profit  shar- 
ing and  cooperative  ownership. 

4.  We  recognize  that  women  played  no 
small  part  in  the  winning  of  the  War.  We 
believe  that  they  should  have  full  political 
and  economic  equality  with  equal  pay  for 
equal  work,  and  a  maximum  eight-hour 
day.  We  declare  for  the  abolition  of  night 
work  by  women,  and  the  abolition  of  child 
labor;  and  for  the  provision  of  adequate 
safeguards  to  insure  the  moral  as  well  as  the 
physical  health  of  the  mothers  and  children 
of  the  race. 

Accompanying  these  resolutions  was 
a  statement  on  The  Church  and  So- 
cial Reconstruction.  These  documents 
have  been  interpreted  and  supple- 
mented by  subsequent  statements  such 
as  that  on  the  Open  Shop  Movement  in 
January  1921,  and  the  annual  Labor 
Sunday  Messages.  We  consider  that 
these  statements  form  a  sound  plat- 
form for  effective  action.  In  the  state- 
ment on  The  Church  and  Social  Recon- 
struction and  in  other  declarations  the 
Federal  Council  has  recognized  that 
cooperation  between  employer  and 
employee  is  not  limited  to  any  one  form 
of  relationships,  but  includes  the  unions, 
shop  councils  and  still  more  democratic 
forms,  and  that  a  certain  freedom  of 
experimentation  is  essential  to  indus- 
trial progress. 

A  significant  paragraph  appears  in 
the  statement  in  Social  Reconstruction : 

One  high  value  which  comes  with  the 
participation  of  labor  in  management  is 
that  it  makes  possible  again  the  hearty 
cooperation  of  all  engaged  in  an  industry 
and  a  new  era  of  good  will.  Therefore, 
along  w^ith  the  rights  involved  in  social 
justice  go  corresponding  obligations.  With 
the  development  of  industrial  democracy, 
the  evidences  of  which  are  all  about  us,  and 
the  coming  of  the  short  work  day,  the  im- 


portance of  genuine  cooperation  in  indus- 
trial processes  and  efficient  production 
must  be  impressed  upon  large  numbers  of 
workers.  As  the  worker  tends  to  receive 
approximately  w^hat  he  produces,  it  must 
become  apparent  that  what  he  has  for  him- 
self and  family,  and  the  social  surplus  upon 
which  depend  the  great  common  under- 
takings of  society,  are  directly  related  to 
the  productivity  of  his  owti  labor,  as  well  as 
finally  to  the  length  of  the  working  day. 

With  regard  to  the  open  shop,  the 
statement  by  the  Federal  Council  is- 
sued in  January,  1921,  was  a  protest 
against  the  use  of  the  open-shop  slogan 
to  break  up  labor  organizations.  This 
was  and  is  considered  to  be  against  the 
legitimate  rights  and  welfare  of  labor, 
and  against  a  sound  industrial  policy. 
The  Federal  Council  is  convinced  of 
the  necessity  for  labor  organization, 
but  it  has  never  stood  for  the  closed 
shop,  and  does  not  favor  it.  It  stands 
rather  against  coercion  by  either  side 
and  for  educational  methods  under  a 
cooperative  leadership.  It  does  not 
believe  that  the  100  per  cent  union 
shop  is  essential  to  the  safety  of  the 
union,  and  it  is  convinced  that  to  at- 
tempt to  force  it  is  in  the  long  run 
against  the  welfare  of  labor  itself.  But 
not  only  will  a  genuine  open  shop  avoid 
discrimination  against  members  of 
labor  unions  as  individuals,  but  it  is  also 
quite  consistent  with  regular  dealings 
with  unions. 

One  other  important  phase  of  Protes- 
tant policy  is  to  seek  for  cooperation  with 
other  religious  bodies,  especially  with 
Catholics  and  Jews.  This  has  grown  out 
of  two  convictions:  first,  that  religious 
controversy  is  distinctly  anti-social;  and 
second,  that  there  is  imperative  need 
of  united  action  on  great  social  issues  by 
the  total  religious  community  of  the 
nation.  These  convictions  led  the  Fed- 
eral Council  to  secure  cooperation  with 
the  Catholic  Welfare  Council  and  the 
Jewish  Board  of  Welfare  during  the 


utm  m     I       P»g  " 


p  j 


i 


128 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


War,  and  the  same  spirit  has  been  ex- 
pressing itself  in  cooperation  between 
the  same  groups  on  the  coal  crisis.  At 
least  to  this  extent  the  people  of  the  na- 
tion are  now  receiving  united  spiritual 
counsels  in  a  new  and  significant  form  of 
pastoral  letters. 

Program  of  Action 

The  industrial  program  of  the  Prot- 
estant group  is  now  fairly  definite  but 
is  still  in  process  of  development.     It  is 
first   of   all   a   program   of  education, 
which  has  set  out  to  introduce  Chris- 
tian principles  into  industry,  to  educate 
in  those  principles  all  who  come  w  ithin 
the  range  of  the  Church's  teaching,  and 
make  their  meaning  clear  by  abundant 
illustration.     To  accomplish  this,  the 
entire   educational   equipment  of   the 
churches,  colleges,  seminaries,  church 
press,   pulpits,    Sunday    Schools    and 
special   study   groups,   is   being   used. 
A  most  significant  cooperation  in  the 
preparation  of  educational  material  has 
been   brought   about  by   the   Federal 
Council's      Educational      Committee, 
which  includes  not  only  the  social  serv- 
ice departments  of  the  several  church 
bodies,  but  the  International  Lesson 
Committee  and  the  two  Christian  As- 
sociations as  well. 

The  semi-monthly  Information  Serv- 
ice and  monthly  Book  Review  Service, 
issued  by  the  Research  Department,  are 
now  going  to  over  two  thousand  pastors, 
editors,  seminary  and  college  libraries, 
and  to  leaders  of  industrial  management 
and  of  labor.  Already  several  impor- 
tant books,  pamphlets  and  study  courses 
have  been  given  to  the  churches. 

In  pursuance  of  this  educational 
program  there  has  been  developed  re- 
search into  industrial  facts  and  hap- 
penings, especially  into  critical  situa- 
tions such  as  exist  at  present  in  the  coal, 
transportation  and  textile  industries. 
In  the  main  this  is  directed  toward  the 
collection  of  fact  material  for  the  in- 


formation of  the  churches  from  existing 
dependable  sources  of  information;  but 
the  Research  Department  occasionally 
does  first-hand  investigation  where  the 
situation  demands  it,  as,  for  example, 
in  the  Denver  tramw^ay  strike. 

The  churches  are  also  studying  the 
unchristian  aspects  of  industry  as  now 
organized  and  managed.  The  Meth- 
odist Federation  for  Social  Service  has 
taken  the  lead  in  this  undertaking  and 
the  new  Fellowship  for  a  Christian 
Social  Order  will  specialize  in  the  same 
field.  A  notable  conference  was  held 
by  the  Methodist  Federation  at  Evans- 
ton  in  May,  devoted  largely  to  this 
problem,  and  another  is  announced  by 
the  Social  Service  Department  of  the 
Congregational  Church. 

The  final  phase  of  the  program  is  the 
development  of  field  work.     This  has 
taken  the  form  of  conferences  in  indus- 
trial centers,  of  which  up  to  the  present 
time  thirty-four  have  been  held.     It  is 
contemplated  to  extend  these  as  rapidly 
as  possible  to  every  industrial  center  in 
the  United  States.     The  purpose  of  the 
conferences  is  to  reach  pastors,  business 
men,  labor  and  social  workers,  and  to 
make  whatever  contacts  are   possible 
with     colleges,     seminaries,     women's 
organizations     and     other     influential 
groups.     The  main  effort  is  to  assist 
pastors  to  prepare  themselves  more  ef- 
fectively to  interpret  Christian  princi- 
ples  to   industry   and   to   exert   their 
personal  influence  for  Christian  leader- 
ship in  industry.     They  are  organized 
in   groups  to  study  factories  at  first 
hand,   to   read  together,   to   act  con- 
certedly  in  industrial  crises.     The  mes- 
sage of  the  conferences  to  business  men 
and  the  labor  councils  is  fundamentally 
the  same;  namely,  the  platform  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  concentration  of 
human  development  and  opportunity, 
industry  as  a  service  to  this  end;  co- 
operation instead  of  fighting;  good  will 
and   fair  dealing.     The  social  service 


Program  of  the  Protestant  Churches 


1:29 


secretaries  of  a  number  of  religious 
bodies  are  cooperating  in  these  con- 
ferences. Progressive  business  men 
who  are  working  out  these  principles  in 
their  industries  and  progressive  lead- 
ers of  labor  who  believe  in  them  also 
are  being  used  to  present  the  more 
technical  aspects  of  industrial  organiza- 


tion. The  Church  is  learning  also  that 
it  is  a  natural  convener;  and  it  is  holding 
an  increasing  number  of  conferences  in 
New  York  and  in  communities  in  which 
leaders  of  industry  and  of  labor  come 
together  informally  at  the  invitation  of 
the  Church,  to  discuss  together  the  per- 
sonal problems  of  industry. 


■"Nk. 


j!) 


A. 


A 


10 


INTENTIONAL  SECOND  EXPOSURE 


ns 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


li 


War,  and  the  same  spirit  has  been  ex- 
pressing itself  in  cooperation  between 
the  same  groups  on  the  coal  crisis.  At 
least  to  this  extent  the  people  of  the  na- 
tion are  now  receiving  united  spiritual 
counsels  in  a  new  and  significant  form  of 
pastoral  letters. 

Program  of  Action 
The  industrial  program  of  the  Prot- 
estant group  is  now^  fairly  definite  but 
is  still  in  process  of  development.     It  is 
first   of   all   a  program   of  education, 
which  has  set  out  to  introduce  Chris- 
tian principles  into  industry,  to  educate 
in  those  principles  all  who  come  within 
the  range  of  the  Church's  teaching,  and 
make  their  meaning  clear  by  abundant 
illustration.     To  accomplish  this,  the 
entire   educational   equipment   of   the 
churches,  colleges,  seminaries,  church 
press,   pulpits,    Sunday    Schools    and 
special   study   groups,   is   being   used. 
A  most  significant  cooperation  in  the 
preparation  of  educational  material  has 
been   brought   about  by   the   Federal 
Council's      Educational      Committee, 
which  includes  not  only  the  social  serv- 
ice departments  of  the  several  church 
bodies,  but  the  International  Lesson 
Committee  and  the  two  Christian  As- 
sociations as  well. 

The  semi-monthly  Information  Serv- 
ice and  monthly  Book  Review  Sertice, 
issued  by  the  Research  Department,  are 
now  going  to  over  two  thousand  pastors, 
editors,  seminary  and  college  libraries, 
and  to  leaders  of  industrial  management 
and  of  labor.  Already  several  impor- 
tant books,  pamphlets  and  study  courses 
have  been  given  to  the  churches. 

In  pursuance  of  this  educational 
program  there  has  been  developed  re- 
search into  industrial  facts  and  hap- 
penings, especially  into  critical  situa- 
tions such  as  exist  at  present  in  the  coal, 
transportation  and  textile  industries. 
In  the  main  this  is  directed  toward  the 
collection  of  fact  material  for  the  in- 


formation of  the  churches  from  existing 
dei^endable  sources  of  information;  but 
the  Research  Department  occasionally 
does  first-hand  investigation  where  the 
situation  demands  it,  as,  for  example, 
in  the  Denver  tramway  strike. 

The  churches  are  also  studying  the 
unchristian  aspects  of  industry  as  now 
organized  and  managed.  The  Meth- 
odist Federation  for  Social  Service  has 
taken  the  lead  in  this  undertaking  and 
the  new  Fellowship  for  a  Christian 
Social  Order  will  specialize  in  the  same 
field.  A  notable  conference  was  held 
by  the  Methodist  Federation  at  Evans- 
ton  in  May,  devoted  largely  to  this 
problem,  and  another  is  announced  by 
the  Social  Service  Department  of  the 
Congregational  Church. 

The  final  phase  of  the  program  is  the 
development  of  field  work.     This  has 
taken  the  form  of  conferences  in  indus- 
trial centers,  of  which  up  to  the  present 
time  thirty-four  have  been  held.     It  is    ^, 
contemplated  to  extend  these  as  rapidly    * 
as  possible  to  every  industrial  center  in 
the  United  States.     The  purpose  of  the 
conferences  is  to  reach  pastors,  business 
men,  labor  and  social  workers,  and  to 
make  whatever  contacts  are   possible 
with     colleges,     seminaries,     women's 
organizations    and    other    influential 
groups.     The  main  effort  is  to  assist 
pastors  to  prepare  themselves  more  ef- 
fectively to  interpret  Christian  princi- 
ples  to   industry   and   to   exert   their 
personal  influence  for  Christian  leader- 
ship in  industry.     They  are  organized 
in  groups  to  study  factories  at  first 
hand,   to   read  together,   to   act  con- 
certedly  in  industrial  crises.     The  mes- 
sage of  the  conferences  to  business  men 
and  the  labor  councils  is  fundamentally 
the  same;  namely,  the  platform  of  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  concentration  of 
human  development  and  opportunity, 
industry  as  a  service  to  this  end;  co- 
operation instead  of  fighting;  good  will 
and  fair  dealing.     The  social  service 


Program  of  the  Protestant  Churches 


129 


fk 


secretaries  of  a  number  of  religious 
bodies  are  cooperating  in  these  con- 
ferences. Progressive  business  men 
who  are  working  out  these  principles  in 
their  industries  and  progressive  lead- 
ers of  labor  who  believe  in  them  also 
are  being  used  to  present  the  more 
technical  aspects  of  industrial  organiza- 


tion. The  Church  is  learning  also  that 
it  is  a  natural  convener;  and  it  is  holding 
an  increasing  number  of  conferences  in 
New  York  and  in  communities  in  which 
leaders  of  industry  and  of  labor  come 
together  informally  at  the  invitation  of 
the  Church,  to  discuss  together  the  per- 
sonal problems  of  industry. 


V  ^1 


«Jx 


^.1 


10 


iii»^trfaMe»n'TitWt,Si|(t6^?^^ 


Vl 


The  Program  and  Activities  of  the  National  Catholic 

Welfare  Council 

By  Rev.   R.   A.   McGowan 

Assistant  Director,  Social  Action  Department,  National  Catholic  Welfare  Council 


THE  labor  program  of  the  National 
Catholic  Welfare  Council  is  based 
upon  the  Program  of  Social  Reconstruc- 
tion, which  was  issued  by  the  bishops 
who  administered  the  National  Catho- 
lic War  Council,  and  upon  the  section 
entitled  Industrial  Relations  in  the 
Pastoral  Letter  of  the  American  Hier- 
archy. The  first  of  these  is  the  more 
famous  and  has  come  to  be  known  as 
the  Bishops'  Program.  The  Pastoral 
Letter  contains  fewer  details  than  the 
Bishops*  Program,  but  the  salient 
principles  of  both  are  the  same. 

Wages 

Both  insist  upon  the  family  living 
wage  which  includes,  according  to  the 
Pastoral  Letter,   "not  merely  decent 
maintenance  for  the  present,  but  also  a 
reasonable  provision  for  such  future 
needs  as  sickness,  invalidity  and  old 
age."     The    Bishops'    Program    says 
that  "the  laborers'  right  to  a  living 
wage  is  the  first  moral  charge  upon 
industry',"  and  that  while  the  employer 
has  a  right  to  get  a  reasonable  living  out 
of  his  business,  "he  has  no  right  to  in- 
terest  until  his  employees  have  ob- 
tained  at   least  living   wages."     The 
Bishops'  Program  emphasizes  that  this 
is  only  the  minimum  of  justice.     It 
urges  that  the  general  level  of  wages 
reached  at  the  end  of  the  War  should 
not  be  lowered;  first,  because  before  the 
War  a  considerable  majority  were  not 
making  living  wages;  second,  because 
wages  did  not  increase  faster  than  the 
cost  of  living;  third,  because  a  living  * 
wage  is  not  the  full  measure  of  justice; 
and  fourth,  because  it  is  economically 
sounder   and  humanly   fairer   to   pay 

130 


\ 


The  National  Catholic  Welfare  Council 


131 


better  than  living  wages  in  a  country  as 
rich  as  ours. 

As  regards  women  workers,  the 
Bishops'  Program  says  that  "those 
women  who  are  engaged  at  the  same 
tasks  as  men  should  receive  equal  pay 
for  equal  amounts  and  qualities  of 
work."  It  adds  that  the  proportion  of 
women  in  industry  should  be  reduced 
to  the  smallest  practicable  limits. 

• 

Unions 

The  Pastoral  Letter  reaffirms  "the 
right  of  the  workers  to  form  and  main- 
tain the  kind  of  organization  that  is 
necessary  and  that  will  be  most  eflFec- 
tual  in  serving  their  welfare."  The 
slightly  but  not  materially  changed 
form  found  in  the  Summary  of  the  '^ 
Bishops'  Program  expresses  the  hope 
"that  the  right  of  labor  to  organize  and 
deal  with  employers  through  chosen 
representatives  will  never  again  be 
called  into  question  by  any  consider- 
able number  of  employers."  Labor 
unions,  according  to  the  Pastoral  Let- 
ter, have  been  and  still  are  "necessary 
in  the  struggle  of  the  workers  for  fair 
wages  and  fair  conditions  of  employ- 
ment." 

Conciliation  and  Arbitration 

Issued  shortly  after  the  armistice, 
the  Bishops'  Program  urged  that  the 
War  Labor  Board  be  retained  as  an 
instrument  for  securing  a  measure  of 
industrial  peace.  Ite  principles,  meth- 
ods and  results  constituted,  it  was  de- 
clared, "a  definite  and  far-reaching 
gain  for  social  justice."  The  Pastoral 
Letter  insists  especially  upon  industrial 
arbitration.     "A   dispute,"    it   reads, 


V 


1 


X 


"that  cannot  be  adjusted  by  direct 
negotiation  between  the  parties  con- 
cerned should  always  be  submitted  to 
arbitration.'* 

Works  Councils 

As  a  means  of  establishing  greater 
peace  between  employers  and  employees 
the  Pastoral  Letter  recommends  that 
labor  unions  should  be  supplemented 
"by  associations  or  conferences,  com- 
posed jointly  of  employers  and  em- 
ployees, which  will  place  emphasis  upon 
the  common  interests  rather  than  the 
divergent  aims  of  the  two  parties,  upon 
cooperation  rather  than  conflict."  The 
common  ground  upon  which  they  can 
unite  is  declared  to  be  those  matters 
of  industrial  management  which  di- 
rectly concern  the  employee  and  about 
which  he  possesses  helpful  knowledge. 
The  Bishops'  Program  brings  forward 
the  same  recommendation.  It  says 
that  "labor  ought  gradually  to  receive 
a  greater  representation  in  the  indus- 
trial part  of  business  management,  the 
control  of  processes  and  machinery, 
nature  of  product;  engagement  and  dis- 
missal of  employees;  hours  of  work, 
rates  of  pay,  bonuses,  etc.,  welfare 
work;  shop  discipline;  relations  with 
trade  unions."  In  effect  both  the 
Pastoral  Letter  and  the  Bishops'  Pro- 
gram advocate  that  in  addition  to  the 
influence  which  working  people  possess 
through  collective  bargaining,  they 
should  share  in  the  industrial  manage- 
ment. The  Pastoral  Letter  says  that 
this  would  benefit  the  workers,  the 
employers,  and  the  general  public. 

Social  Legislation 

While  the  Pastoral  Letter  includes 
legislation  as  one  of  the  methods  of 
righting  social  wrongs,  it  does  not  ad- 
vocate any  particular  piece  of  legisla- 
tion. The  Bishops'  Program,  on  the 
other  hand,  recommends  a  far-reaching 


program  of  social  legislation,  including 
minimum- wage  laws,  social  insurance, 
federal  employment  bureaus,  municipal 
housing,  etc. 

On  the  living-w^age  law  it  says  that 
"the  several  states  should  enact  laws 
providing  for  the  establishment  of  wage 
rates  that  will  be  at  least  sufficient  for 
the  decent  maintenance  of  a  family,  in 
the  case  of  all  male  adults,  and  ade- 
quate to  the  decent  individual  support 
of  female  workers." 

Ultimately  the  legal  wage  rate 
should  be  a  "saving  wage,"  and  should 
allow  for  future  contingencies.  Mean- 
while, social  insurance  should  provide 
for  illness,  invalidity,  unemployment 
and  old  age.  To  such  an  insurance 
fund  the  state  should  contribute  ver>' 
little,  and  that  much  only  temporarily, 
and  workingmen  should  contribute 
nothing  unless  they  are  making  enough 
already  to  meet  the  present  needs  of  a 
family.  The  fund  should  be  raised  by 
a  levy  on  industry  for  "the  industry-  in 
which  a  man  is  employed  should  pro- 
vide him  with  all  that  is  necessary  to 
meet  all  the  needs  of  his  entire  life." 

The  Guild  System 

The  Pastoral  Letter  in  its  section  on 
industrial  relations  does  not  mention, 
except  by  implication,  socialism  or 
common  ownership.  A  short  passage 
is  all  that  is  given  to  it  in  the  Bishops' 
Program,  where  it  says  that  socialism 
will  probably  never  come,  and  if  it 
does,  it  will  mean  bureaucracy,  politi- 
cal tyranny,  etc.  Instead,  both  the 
Pastoral  Letter  and  the  Bishops'  Pro- 
gram insist  upon  a  sound  and  deep  re- 
form of  private  owTiership  along  the 
lines  of  the  guild  system  of  the  Middle 
Ages. 

The  heart  of  the  recommendation,  in 
the  words  of  the  Bishops'  Program,  is 
this:  "The  majority  must  somehow  be- 
come owners,  or  at  least  in  part,  of  the 
instruments  of  j)roduction."     The  ma- 


m^-sr/vr^m 


132 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


u 


jority  of  the  workers  are  not  to  remain 
"mere  wage-earners."  *'To  a  great 
extent  the  abolition  of  the  wage  sys- 
tem" is  involved  and  until  this  situa- 
tion is  reached  we  cannot  "have  a 
thoroughly  eflScient  system  of  produc- 
tion, or  an  industrial  and  social  order 
that  will  be  secure  from  the  danger  of 
revolution." 

The  Pastoral  I^etter  apjiroaches  the 
question  from  another  angle  to  reach 
the  same  conclusion.  It  is  seeking  a 
remedy  for  the  division  of  "society  into 
two  widely  differing  castes"  of  which 
one  "holds  power  because  it  holds 
wealth"  while  the  other  is  "the  needy 
and  powerless  multitude. "  Following 
Pope  Leo's  recommendation  and  the 
spirit  of  the  Church  in  building  up  the 
guilds  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Pastoral 
Letter  says  that  the  underlying  princi- 
ple of  the  economic  arrangements  of 
the  Middle  Ages  "is  of  permanent  ap- 
plication and  is  the  only  one  that  will 
give  stability  to  industrial  society." 
It  says  further  that  the  underlying 
principle  of  the  economic  arrangements 
of  the  Middle  Ages  was  that  the  persons 
who  worked  owned  the  lands  and  the 
tools  with  which  they  worked. 

The  Bishops'  Program  points  out 
that  the  working  people  can  be  enabled 
to  reach  the  stage  of  ownership  through 
cooperative  productive  societies  and 
copartnership  arrangements.  The  Pas- 
toral Letter  does  not  indicate  any  spe- 
cific method;  it  contents  itself  with 
urging  that  the  desired  changes  be 
realized  as  rapidly  as  conditions  will 
permit. 

Activities 

Labor  matters  are  entrusted  by  the 
Welfare  Council  to  its  Social  Action 
Department  under  the  directorship  of 
Rev.  John  A.  Ryan,  D.D.  The  work 
done  is  chiefly  educational. 

Three  books  have  been  published  in 
the. Social  Action  Series.     The  first  is 


The  Church  and  Labor,  by  Dr.  Ryan  and 
Rev.  Joseph  Husslein,  S.J.,  a  volume 
consisting  largely  of  documents  issued 
by  Popes,  Bishops  and  the  Hierarchy  of 
various  countries.  In  addition  to  an 
introduction  which  collects  the  teach- 
ings of  the  various  doctrines  into  a 
s^Tithesis,  the  pioneer  work  of  Bishop 
Ketteler  and  Frederic  Ozanam  is 
described.  The  second  is  The  Social 
Misfdon  of  Charity,  by  Rev.  Wm.  J. 
Kerby,  Ph.D.,  an  original  work  detail- 
ing the  purpose  and  the  meaning  of 
charitable  activities.  The  third,  just 
published,  is  The  State  and  the  Church, 
by  Dr.  Ryan  and  Rev.  Moorhouse 
F.  X.  Millar,  S.J.,  which  deals  with  the 
nature  and  purpose  of  political  govern- 
ment and,  therefore,  includes  a  sec- 
tion on  the  relation  of  the  state  to 
industry'. 

Four  pamphlets  have  also  been  is- 
sued. Capital  and  Labor — Methods  of 
Harmony  and  Conciliation  by  Rev. 
John  A.  Ryan,  Bolshevism  in  Russia 
and  America  by  Rev.  R.  A.  McGowan, 
A  Cathechism  of  the  Social  Question 
by  Revs.  John  A.  Ryan,  D.D.,  and 
R.  A.  McGowan,  and  Cardinal  O'Con- 
nell's  Pastoral  on  Religious  Ideals  in 
Industrial  Relations. 

Besides  these  publications,  a  weekly 
news  service  on  current  events  in  the 
world  of  labor  is  sent  to  Catholic  pa- 
pers, the  labor  news  service  and  the 
general  press  services.  Liberal  use  is 
made  of  the  Bishops'  Program,  the 
Pastoral  Letter  and  the  encyclical  of 
Pope  Leo  "On  the  Condition  of 
Labor."  An  attempt  is  frequently 
made  to  make  an  appraisal  of  the  effect 
of  various  events  as  they  arise  and  the 
Bishops'  Program,  the  Pastoral  Letter 
and  Pope  Leo's  encyclical  are  quoted  in 
defense  or  in  condemnation  of  pro- 
posals, facts,  movements,  etc.,  in  the 
world  of  labor.  A  section  of  the 
N.C.W.C.  Bulletin,  a  monthly  maga- 
zine, is  also  edited  by  the  Social  Action 


The  National  Catholic  Welfare  Council 


133 


{ 


Department,   and   space  is  given  to 
general  articles  on  labor  and  to  news 

^  and  comment  on  industrial  relations. 

A  particular  piece  of  work  that  went 
beyond  the  ordinary  was  the  condem- 
nation of  the  open  shop  drive  in  its 
infancy  early  in  November  1920.  This 
was  before  other  organizations  had 
come  to  the  rescue  of  the  working  peo- 
ple and  the  labor  imions  in  their  re- 
sistance to  wage  cuts  and  the  attacks 
upon  their  unions.  A  reply  to  the 
expose,  published  in  an  obscure  journal 
and  distributed  broadcast  through  the 

>^  mails  at  great  expense,  brought  further 

\  details  from  the  Social  Action  Depart- 

ment of  the  real  purpose  behind  all  the 
propaganda  about  the  freedom  and 
Americanism  of  the  open  shop.  A 
later  statement  was  issued  protesting 
against  wage  cuts  as  subversive  of  the 
principle  of  a  living  wage.  Week  by 
week,  however,  the  attempt  has  been 
made  to  assist  the  working  people  in 
4  their  struggles  of  the  past  two  years  in 
the  various  strikes  and  controversies 
that  have  arisen,  and  to  point  the  way 
to  the  solution  of  the  labor  problem 
which  Catholic  social  teaching  indi- 
cates. 

About  thirty-five  social  study  clubs 
were  established  last  winter  with  the 
assistance  of  the  Social  Action  Depart- 
ment. These  study  clubs  meet  weekly 
and  discuss  informally  what  the  labor 
problem  means,  and  how  to  solve  it. 
They  use  as  a  text  the  Social  Action 

^  Department's  Catechism  of  the  Social 

Question. 

A  lecture  service  on  labor  questions 
and  social  work  and  citizenship  has 
been  conducted  for  Catholic  colleges 
and  seminaries  and  Catholic  clubs  in 
secular  schools.  In  addition,  members 
of  the  Department  are  frequently  called 
upon  to  address  labor  conventions,  city 
clubs,  chambers  of  commerce,  social 

^  workers'   conventions,    public   forums 


and    conventions   of    cooperative    or- 
ganizations. 

Besides  giving  publicity  to  the  co- 
operative movement  and  whatever  aid 
and  comfort  is  at  hand,  a  representa- 
tive of  the  Department  is  on  the  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  Cooperative  League 
of  America,  and  contact  is  preserved 
with  the  All-American  Cooperative 
Commission. 

During  the  coal  strike,  in  addition  to 
measuring  the  coal  industry  by  the 
Bishops'  Program  and  the  Pastoral 
Letter,  a  statement  was  issued  jointly 
with  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches 
urging  the  operators  and  miners  to 
meet  in  conference,  and  calling  for  a 
permanent  body  to  investigate  the  coal 
industry.  Later,  jointly  with  the  same 
body,  a  conference  was  held  with 
President  Harding  during  which  he  was 
asked  to  call  a  conference  of  the  opera- 
tors and  miners.  A  few  weeks  later,  a 
committee  consisting  of  representatives 
of  the  National  Catholic  Welfare 
Council,  of  the  Federal  Council  of 
Churches  and  of  the  American  Confer- 
ence of  Jewish  Rabbis,  presented  an- 
other memorial  on  the  same  subject  to 
President  Harding.  An  early  piece  of 
work  that  was  carried  on  with  the 
Federal  Council  of  Churches  was  the 
investigation  of  the  Denver  street-car 
strike  at  the  request  of  a  local  commis- 
sion of  all  the  churches. 

The  aim  throughout  has  been  to 
make  Catholic  social  teaching  knowTi 
and  practiced.  Since  Catholic  social 
teaching  is  distinctly  favorable  to  the 
working  people,  the  National  Catholic 
Welfare  Council  is  distinctly  favorable 
to  the  working  people.  W^hat  it  aims 
to  do  is  to  bring  more  justice  and 
charity  into  industrial  life,  and  help  to 
build  economic  institutions  that  will 
take  more  into  consideration  the 
sacred  rights  and  the  no  less  sacred 
duties  of  human  beings. 


~.&4*s.^*-~-' 


;• 


U 


f 


I 


Industrial  Program  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 

Association 

By  Charles  R.  Towson 

Secretary,  Industrial  Department,  International  Committee,  Y.  M.  C.  A. 


THE  unique  place  and  value  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tions in  industry'  in  America  are  due  to 
the  observance  of  a  well  defined  in- 
dustrial policy  and  program. 

The  Objective 

Christian  character  is  the  primary 
objective.  The  motives,  methods  and 
programs  used  are  definitely  Christian, 
both  in  the  broadest  sense  of  the  word 
Christian,  and  in  the  sense  of  relating 
men  personally  to  Jesus  Christ  and  to 
His  service.  It  is  a  work  bv  men  and 
boys  for  men  and  boys;  to  enlist  them 
in  the  service  to  their  fellows,  as  well  as 
in  self-improvement;  to  train  them  in 
Christian  serv^ice  and  to  render  serv^ice 
to  those  who  need  it. 

The  Association  is  related  to  the 
whole  human  factor  in  industry'.  There 
is  no  limitation  of  the  Association  ob- 
jective to  any  special  group,  i.e.,  no 
class  objective.  No  service  is  rendered 
to  either  laborer  or  capitalist  nor  to 
employers  or  employees  as  such. 
The  work  is  for  each  and  all,  as  men 
individually  and  collectively.  An  all- 
round  service  is  rendered.  The  com- 
plete program  of  the  Association  is 
carried  out  in  so  far  as  possible  in  the 
physical,  intellectual,  spiritual,  social, 
and  economic  life,  individual  and  col- 
lective, and  where  necessary  for  the 
family  and  for  the  community.  The 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  serves  men  and  boys  in  all 
relationships:  (a)  where  they  work,  (b) 
where  they  live,  (c)  where  they  recreate. 

Other  results  in  addition  to  the  de- 
velopment of  Christian  character  are  ex- 
pected and  secured.  Among  these  are: 
improved  working,  living  and  leisure 


conditions;  increased  happiness  and 
contentment;  greater  eflficiency  in  pro- 
duction; better  relations  between  em- 
ployers and  employees;  higher  appreci- 
ation of  personality;  more  opportunity 
for  self-expression;  greater  brotherhood. 

The  Call  to  the  Industrial  Field 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation is  called  to  give  special  at- 
tention to  the  industrial  field  for  a 
number  of  reasons: 

Men  and  boys  are  increasingly  being 
massed  around  the  industries. 

All  of  the  needs  common  to  men  are 
to  be  met  plus  those  that  are  created  by 
industrial  conditions. 

They  can  be  reached  because  they     ^ 
are  massed. 

No  group  of  men  or  boys  has  been 
found  unresponsive  to  the  spirit  and  the 
program  of  the  Association  when  it  has 
been  accurately  interpreted  to  them. 

Industry  holds  the  resources  both  of 
men  and  money  with  which  to  meet 
the  needs  it  creates. 

Financial  support. — The  Association 
does  not  hesitate  to  lay  industry  (both 
employers  and  employees)  under  trib- 
ute for  financial  support  of  Associa- 
tion work.  Taking  the  country  as  a 
whole  today  the  employees  give  more 
than  a  dollar  for  every  dollar  con- 
tributed by  employers  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  this  work.  Frequently,  how-  . 
ever,  at  the  inception  of  the  work,  the 
employers  bear  the  bulk  of  the  cost. 
The  employees'  contribution  is  a 
gradual  development.  Employees  are 
never  asked  to  contribute  toward  build- 
ings or  other  premises  erected  on  land 
owned  by  the  employer.     They   fre- 


YouNG  Men's  Christian  Association 


135 


1 


134 


X 


quently,   however,   contribute  toward 
the  furnishings  of  such  buildings. 

Leadership. — While  no  work  is  under- 
taken without  a  trained  secretary,  yet 
there  are  always  volunteer  leaders  to 
be  found  in  the  industry.  The  indus- 
try furnishes  the  necessary  volunteer 
service.  The  Association  is  always  a 
local  institution  composed  of  the  men 
and  boys  of  the  commimity.  The  only 
non-local  factor  introduced  is  the 
trained  secretary,  and  he  quickly  be- 
comes a  part  of  the  resident  forces  of 
the  communitv. 

Wherever  the  work  has  been  estab- 
lished upon  the  right  basis  and  both 
employees  and  employers  have  given 
approval  and  support,  the  work  has 
been  a  success.  The  only  place  where 
it  has  failed  is  where  it  has  not  been 
tried  under  wise  leadership. 

The  Nature  of  the  Work 

It  is  a  cooperative  work.  It  identi- 
fies both  employers  and  employees, 
individually  and  collectively,  in  an 
enterprise  of  mutual  interest,  one  that 
serves  the  interests  of  both.  The  As- 
sociation's work  develops  the  sense  of 
mutuality  between  all  the  parties  in 
industry.  The  Association's  relation 
is  one  of  mutuality  rather  than 
neutrality. 

It  is  uncommercial.  The  Associa- 
tion seeks  only  human  welfare.  There 
is  no  selfish  motive.  The  support  from 
employees  and  employers  should  be 
suflficient  to  prevent  the  Association 
from  having  to  stress  the  revenue 
producing  features  overmuch.  Too 
much  eflFort  to  make  the  Association 
self-supporting  would  result  in  harmful 
commercialism. 

It  is  unoflScial.  There  is  no  organic 
relation  to  either  employer  or  em- 
ployee as  such,  nor  to  any  organization 
of  either  group.  The  secretary  should 
never  perform  official  duties  for  either 
the  employers  or  the  employees. 


It  has  a  trained  leadership.  No 
work  is  ever  established  without  the 
sustained  supervision  of  a  trained 
secretary  or  the  equivalent. 

The  work  is  related  to  a  permanent 
agency.  Local,  state,  national,  and 
international  Association  organizations 
can  be  laid  under  tribute  for  the  benefit 
of  every  Association  unit. 

Relation  to  Industry 

The  Association's  relation  to  both 
employers  and  employees  is  one  of 
mutuality,  not  neutrality.  The  As- 
sociation is  composed  of  the  men  them- 
selves, and  is  usually  a  cross-section  of 
the  whole  industry  and  community,  in- 
cluding both  employers  and  employees. 
It  operates  in  union  and  non-union 
fields  and  among  w^orks  councils  and 
with  other  employee  representation 
plans.  It  follows  that  the  activities  in 
which  they  engage  must  be  of  mutual 
interest.  The  Association  emphasizes 
the  agreements  between  employers  and 
employees,  and,  by  this  fact,  disagree- 
ments are  made  more  difficult. 

The  Association  work  should  and 
does  increase  knowledge  concerning  in- 
dustry, progress  and  conditions.  It  is 
not  intended  to  obscure  conditions  that 
need  correction.  It  is  not  an  opiate  to 
quiet  unrest  nor  a  lightning  rod  to 
divert  strikes.  It  is  never  a  substitute 
for  better  wages,  shorter  hours  or  good 
working  conditions.  It  helps  to  in- 
crease earning  power  of  the  worker 
and  helps  him  to  increase  the  purchas- 
ing power  of  his  earnings. 

The  Association  creates  an  atmos- 
phere of  friendliness  and  confidence, 
which  helps  to  prevent  misunder- 
standings and  to  make  possible  the  ad- 
justment of  differences  when  they  do 
arise.  Its  great  strength  lies  in  making 
contacts  in  the  spirit  of  friendliness 
and  service. 

While  the  Association  elects  of  its 
own  accord  to  serve  in  this  sphere  of 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


? 


mutual  interests  and  for  a  definite  ob- 
jective, it  also  becomes  the  active  ally 
of  every  other  constructive  force.  By 
its  emphasis  upon  character  values, 
including  integrity,  justice,  fairness, 
good  will,  etc.,  it  makes  laws  more  ef- 
fective. It  has  never  impeded  social 
legislation,  and  has  always  been  an  aid 
to  social  progress  even  though  its  func- 
tions have  not  been  legislative. 

By  begetting  the  confidence  of  em- 
ployers and  employees.  Association 
leaders  can  and  do  lift  the  level  of  in- 
dustrial attitudes  and  relations  that  af- 
fect wages,  hours  and  conditions.  If 
suflSciently  informed,  the  secretary  can 
help  the  industry  in  developing  safety, 
health  and  general  welfare  methods,  as 
well  as  personal  hygiene,  and  domestic 
and  community  ideals.  In  respect  to 
issues  between  employees  and  em- 
ployers, it  has  been  found  that  by  ef- 
fective work  in  the  realm  of  their  mu- 
tual interests,  it  has  been  possible  to 
bring  about  an  adjustment  of  matters 
which  previously  had  lain  in  the  realm 
of  their  disagreements. 

Program 

The  International  Committee  pro- 
vides a  staff  of  secretaries  who  help 
local  and  state  Associations  to  establish 
and  maintain: 

The  full  program  of  the  regular 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  among  industrial  workers 
throughout  the  entire  country.  This 
includes  all  of  the  physical,  educational, 
social  and  religious  activities. 

Special  work  by  industries — i.  e. 
adapted  to  industrial  cities  and  towns, 
iron  and  steel  centers,  textile  mills, 
mining  and  lumber  camps,  etc. 

Immigration  and  Emigration  service 
in  North  America  and  Europe. 

Enlisting  college  students  (especially 
in  engineering  schools)  and  relating 
them  in  first  hand  contact  and  study 
in  industry. 


Industrial  Motion  Picture  Bureau 
and  other  bureau  service. 

From  35  to  40  per  cent  of  the  Asso- 
ciation membership  is  draw^n  from 
industry  and  transportation. 

Because  the  best  service  to  men  and 
boys  is  impossible  in  many  industrial 
communities,  unless  some  service  is 
rendered  to  the  family,  it  has  been 
found  desirable  to  include  provision 
for  work  for  women  and  girls  in  some 
places.  This  involves  the  use  of 
women's  committees  and  sometimes 
women  employees  as  visitors  or  aides. 
Wherever  possible  this  work  for  women 
and  girls  is  handled  by  the  Y.  W.  C.  A. 
Sometimes  this  is  done  exclusively  by 
both  the  Y.  W.  and  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and 
occasionally  both  organizations  operate 
in  the  same  "Y"  building. 

In  adapting  its  program  to  industry 
the  Association  will  consider  the  special 
needs  of  various  groups,  for  example: 
skilled  mechanics,  machinery  opera- 
tives, apprentices,  unskilled  labor;  also, 
native  workers  (white),  native  workers 
(colored),  foreign-born  workers;  or,  the 
boys  under  twenty-one,  and  especially 
the  foremen. 

The  activities  are  planned  with  re- 
gard to  the  conditions  and  needs  grow- 
ing out  of  the  living,  working  and  lei- 
sure conditions.  Even  for  night  shifts, 
recreation,  Bible  classes,  social  and 
educational  work  have  been  found  pos- 
sible. 

In  the  large  industries  classes  may  be 
conducted  in  departments;  sports  may 
be  organized  by  departments;  meetings 
at  noon,  shop  sings,  socials,  etc.,  are 
often  arranged  by  departments.  Fore- 
men's meetings  are  a  most  valuable 
feature.  The  tactical  importance  of 
the  foreman  which  is  constantly  in- 
creasing has  led  to  a  large  einphasis 
upon  foremen's  clubs  and  training 
courses  in  human  relations. 

While  at  times  it  may  be  possible  to 
render   only  limited   service,   the  all- 


YouNG  Men's  Christian  Association 


137 


round  welfare  of  the  individual  is  kept 
in  view.  In  some  places  only  physical 
work  may  be  done  at  first;  in  other 
places,  social  or  educational  work 
will  be   undertaken   first;  and  yet  in 


other  places  merely  creature  comforts 
may  be  provided  at  first;  but,  in  all 
cases,  the  all-round  objective  of  the 
Association  should  be  kept  clearly  in 
mind. 


1 


X 


h 


I 


V. 


i 


The  Industrial  Policies  of  the  Young  Women's 

Christian  Association 

By  Florence  Simms 

Executive,  Industrial  Department,  Field  Division 


NEARLY  fifteen  years  ago  two 
things  happened  which  have 
determined  the  policy  and  develop- 
ment of  the  industrial  work  in  the 
Young  Women's  Christian  Associa- 
tion up  to  the  present  time.  First, 
out  of  early  futile  efforts  to  carry  the 
Association  program,  and  through  it 
the  "life  abundant,"  to  the  young 
women  working  in  industrial  estab- 
lishments in  this  country,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  industrial  department  had 
come  to  the  place  in  1908  where  they 
began  to  get  an  idea  that  people  ought 
to  do  things  for  themselves — that  the 
only  way,  after  all,  to  develop  girls 
was  to  give  them  a  chance  to  develop 
themselves. 

The  Social  Creed  of  the  Churches 

Something  else  happened  in  the 
same  year.  The  Protestant  churches 
began  to  realize  the  necessity  for  a 
more  unified  front  for  Protestantism 
and  combined  to  form  the  Federal 
Council  of  Churches  of  Christ  in  Amer- 
ica. The  broad  vision  of  this  body  led 
it  to  stimulate  an  interest  among  the 
churches  in  social  conditions,  particu- 
larly in  working  conditions  and  the 


such  regulation  of  the  conditions  of 
toil  for  women  as  should  safeguard  the 
physical  and  moral  health  of  the  com- 
munity; the  abatement  and  preven- 
tion of  poverty;  the  protection  of 
the  individual  and  society  from  the 
social,  economic  and  moral  waste  of 
the  liquor  traffic.  It  advocated  a 
living  wage  as  a  minimum  in  every 
industry. 

Y.  W.  C.  A.  Conventions 
The  Berlin  Conference. — 

Shortly  after  this,  in  1910,  the 
World's  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association  at  the  Berlin  Conference 
had  as  one  of  its  topics  "The  Indus- 
trial and  Social  Awakening."  It  fell 
to  the  Young  Women's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation of  America  to  present  that 
subject  and  to  offer  recommendations. 
The  World's  Y.  W.  C.  A.  Committee 
sent  to  all  countries  a  questionnaire 
asking  what  the  Associations  of  each 
country  had  done  to  meet  the  indus- 
trial and  social  situation.  One  of  the 
questions  was  "What  do  you  believe 
about  the  possibility  of  the  social 
teachings  of  Christ  being  applied  to 
the  social  order  of  today?"     The  an- 


everyday  life  of  working  people.     This  ^  swers  poured  in  from  the  four  corners 


attitude  on  the  part  of  the  churches 
expressed  in  their  social  creed  led  the 
Association  to  see  that  it  must  be 
concerned  with  something  more  than 
just  the  individual  girl;  that  it  ought 
to  concern  itself  with  her  social  and 
economic  environment,  with  the  con- 
ditions of  her  daily  life  and  work. 
The  social  creed  of  the  churches  spoke 
frankly  about  these  matters;  it  called 
for  the  abolition  of  child  labor;  for 


of  the  earth.  It  w^as  the  English 
women  who  had  seen  farthest.  They 
had  come  together  in  some  of  the 
labor  conferences  in  Manchester  and 
decided  that  Christianity  had  really 
something  very'  definite  to  do  and  to 
say  in  the  face  of  the  industrial  situ- 
ation. At  Berlin  it  was  a  French 
woman  who  was  insistent  that  the 
teachings  of  Jesus  formed  the  true 
foundation  for  a  social  program. 


Young  Women's  Christian  Association 


139 


138 


1 


X 


Going  on  record  for  the  first  time. — 

Thus  the  charter  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  work  of  the  Young  Wom- 
en's Christian  Association  in  its  indus- 
trial life  was  agreed  upon.  It  recog- 
nized, first,  that  the  social  "teachings 
of  Jesus  Christ  are  the  basis  of  the 
right  social  life  of  women"  and, 
further,  that  there  was  need  of  a 
"study  of  the  social  industrial  prob- 
lems of  the  day  by  an  investigation  of 
the  physical  and  economic  require- 
ments of  working  women,  by  studying 
the  means  of  amelioration  which 
legislation  and  private  endeavor  offer, 
and  by  a  careful  examination  of  organi- 
zations among  working  women."  This 
action  of  the  conference  was  sent  back 
to  every  national  organization,  and 
every  Association  of  the  World's 
Committee  was  asked  to  accept  it  as 
its  own  charter.  It  was  the  beginning 
of  a  whole  new  era  in  the  life  of  the 
Association.  Further  than  this  the 
Association  states  that  it  will  seek  to 
advance  the  social  and  intellectual 
development  of  its  members  by  mak- 
ing adequate  provision  for  recreation 
and  for  social  intercourse  betw^een 
young  men  and  young  women;  further- 
ing physiological  teaching  and  training 
for  home  making;  and  arranging 
courses  which  shall  promote  the  eflS- 
ciency  of  commercial  and  industrial 
workers  and  give  them  wise  teaching 
concerning  the  social  and  protective 
legislation    enacted    in    their    behalf. 

The  Indianapolis  Convention. — 

In  its  national  convention  in  Indian- 
apolis in  1911  the  American  Associa- 
tion went  still  further  and  said  "that 
the  Association  shall  seek  to  educate 
public  opinion  regarding  the  need  of 
establishing  a  minimum  living  wage 
and  of  regulating  hours  of  labor  com- 
patible wdth  the  physical  health  and 
development  of  wage-earners;  that  the 
Association  shall  declare  its  belief  in 


the  rights  of  women  over  sixteen  years 
of  age,  in  good  health,  working  a  full 
day,  to  a  living  wage  which  shall 
insure  her  the  possibility  of  a  virtuous 
livelihood;  that  the  Association  recog- 
nizing the  necessity  of  legislation  for 
the  regulation  of  hours  and  wages  for 
wage-earners  in  industry  and  trade 
hereby  expresses  its  sympathy  with 
the  great  purpose  of  securing  the 
determination  by  law  of  a  minimum 
living  wage  for  women." 

Development  of  Member  ship. — 

The  Association  was  changing  from 
that  type  of  work  in  which  it  was  do- 
ing for  girls  and  thinking  for  them  to 
that  in  which  it  began  to  feel  the 
solidarity  of  the  whole  human  family. 
The  realization  of  humanity  as  God's 
temple  was  beginning.  Futile  efforts 
to  produce  and  offer  a  program  that 
would  win  girls  through  its  own  attrac- 
tiveness gave  way  to  offering  an  opj)or- 
tunity  for  them  to  find  means  of 
development  for  their  various  interests. 
Noon  meetings  in  the  factories,  big 
down-town  buildings  running  a  formal 
schedule,  and  ready-made  activities 
tended  to  be  replaced  by  a  less  formal 
program  planned  and  developed  by 
the  girls  when  they  realized  that  their 
expressed  needs  could  be  filled  by  less 
formal  buildings  in  sections  of  the 
community  most  accessible  to  the 
girls  needing  them,  by  group  work 
which  developed  the  program  it  needed 
and  wanted  along  the  lines  of  its 
largest  interests. 

Self-governing  clubs  soon  appeared. 
These  sent  representatives  to  indus- 
trial councils  w^hicli  began  to  meet  in 
the  summer  of  1912  to  discuss  the 
development  of  a  program  for  the 
industrial  membership.  From  such 
subjects  as  recreation,  the  welfare 
form  of  social  service,  etc.,  they  have 
gradually  become  absorbed  in  the 
consideration  of  such  questions  as  the 
underlying  economic  causes  of  war,  the 


140 


The  Aj^nals  of  the  American  Academy 


cooperative  movement,  the  implica- 
tions of  citizenship  and  legislation, 
and  vital  education.  Recommenda- 
tions from  these  comicils  become  the 
program  basis  for  the  following  year's 
activity. 

The  Washington  Conference. — 

In  1919  tlie  first  national  industrial 
conference  of  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association  met  in  Wash- 
ington with  the  consent  of  the  exec- 
utive committee  of  the  National  Board. 
Here  again  the  girls  made  statements 
of  the  aims  which  they  believed  the 
Association  should  support  them  in 
trying  to  attain,  if  they  are  to  live  a 
life  which  is  in  any  sense  adequate. 

The  Cleveland  Convention. — 

The  result  of  this  statement  from 
the  industrial  membership  was  the 
adoption  at  Cleveland  by  the  whole 
Association  of  the  social  ideals  of  the 
Federal  Council  of  Churches,  includ- 
ing the  resolutions  of  1919.  This  did 
two  things:  It  gave  the  united  sup- 
port of  the  Association  to  the  effort 
to  embody  Christian  ideals  in  con- 
crete and  living  forms,  and  in  so  doing 
it  gave  to  the  industrial  membership 
a  new  sense  of  responsibility  for  the 
whole    of    which    they    are    a    part. 

The  Hot  Springs  Convention. — 

The  presence  at  the  Cleveland 
Convention  of  a  number  of  our  indus- 
trial members  as  delegates  from  local 
Associations  gave  happy  augury  of  the 
goodly  number  of  industrial  girls  and 
women  who  attended  the  1922  con- 
vention at  Hot  Springs.  In  spite  of 
the  fact  that  this  has  been  one  of 
several  years  of  unemployment  and 
that  Hot  Springs  is  a  great  distance 
from  the  industrial  centers,  many  girls 
attended.  Associations  planned  to 
send  industrial  girls  as  delegates  and 
the  convention  invited  student  and 
industrial  groups  to  be  responsible  for 
a   part   of   the   convention   program. 


The  industrial  girls  in  this  national  as- 
sembly discussed  questions  of  vital 
import  to  their  life  and  work,  such  as 
"Unemployment,"  "What  Is  Reli- 
gion, "  and  "Student-Industrial  Fellow- 
ship," and  appointed  a  committee  to 
serve  in  the  interim  between  such 
national  assemblies.  The  function  of 
this  committee  will  be  to  call  assemblies 
of  the  industrial  women  in  the  Young 
Women's  Christian  Association  and  to 
cooperate  with  the  national  industrial 
committee  in  the  development  of  its 
work. 

The  greatest  enlargement  of  vision 
came  in  the  joint  sessions  at  Hot 
Springs  when  the  students  and  indus- 
trial girls  formed  a  new  comradeship. 
These  groups  had  met  at  Cleveland 
and  learned  their  community  of  in- 
terest in  the  Association.  They  had, 
in  the  two  years  between,  studied 
together  in  their  local  Associations 
and  visited  each  other's  conferences 
and  they  came  together  here  to  discuss 
their  shared  experiences.  The  college 
girl,  in  entering  the  world  of  practical 
work  which  the  industrial  girl  knows 
so  well,  had  found  a  new  world  open 
to  her,  and  the  industrial  girl  at  col- 
lege, where  the  coveted  opportunity 
for  education  is  at  last  realized,  had 
discovered  a  new  basis  for  fellowship 
and  understanding. 

The  discussion  of  the  industrial 
assembly  opened  on  unemployment, 
with  its  crippling,  dwarfing  and  dead- 
ening effect  upon  life.  It  closed  with 
the  student  industrial  session  when 
industrial  girls  spoke  of  how  they  had 
been  enabled  through  the  Association 
to  take  advantage  of  the  larger  life 
offered  to  them.  The  observer  could 
scarcely  avoid  the  impression  that  the 
future  can  safely  be  trusted  to  the 
hands  of  young  people  who  are  eager 
for  education  in  order  to  gain  such 
understanding  of  the  whole  of  life  that 
they  may  help  to  realize  a  Christian 
order  in  industry. 


^ 


X 


Summary  and  Afterword 

By   the   Editors-in-Charge, 
John  A.  Ryan,  F.  Ernest  Johnson 


PERHAPS  the  average  reader  of 
this  volume  will  look  upon  the 
title  as  inadequate.  The  first  two  sec- 
tions may  not  seem  to  fit  very  approp- 
riately under  such  a  heading  as  "In- 
dustrial Relations  and  the  Churches." 
The  relation,  indeed,  is  somewhat 
indirect.  Nevertheless,  it  is  real.  In 
preparing  this  volume  our  main  ob- 
ject has  been  to  bring  out  the  ethical 
and  idealistic  factors  in  the  field  of  in- 
dustrial relations.  We  have  sought  to 
ascertain  in  how  far  these  factors  are 
taking  the  place,  or  may  be  expected  to 
take  the  place,  of  purely  economic 
forces  in  the  relations  between  em- 
ployer and  employee  and  between  both 
of  these  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  com- 
munity on  the  other  hand.  The  func- 
tioning and  the  progress  of  ethical  in- 
fluences are  due,  surely  in  large  part,  to 
the  teaching  and  the  activity  of  the 
churches. 

Although  the  papers  represent  a 
great  variety  and  even  a  considerable 
opposition  of  viewpoints,  they  present 
a  considerable  and  an  encouraging 
amount  of  fundamental  agreement. 
Indeed,  it  would  not  be  misleading  to 
say  that  the  differences  are  of  emphasis 
rather  than  of  principle.  No  writer  as- 
serts that  industrial  relations  should  be 
governed  by  purely  economic  forces  or 
by  any  conception,  however  euphe- 
mistically stated,  of  the  so-called  law  of 
supply  and  demand.  Substantially  all 
the  writers  agree  that  the  industrial 
conflict  should  be  adjusted  on  the  basis 
of  ethical  principles,  and  the  majority 
appear  to  agree  that  the  Church  is 
directly  and  properly  concerned  with 


the  conflict  and  its  adjustment.  This 
situation  represents  a  vast  improve- 
ment over  that  which  obtained  a  half 
or  even  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  It 
is  but  a  few  years  since  the  majority  of 
employers,  even  those  who  were  con- 
sidered liberal  by  their  contemporaries, 
regarded  the  employer-employee  rela- 
tionship as  one  of  master  and  servant. 
Today,  we  find  employers  of  a  fairly 
conservative  type  committed  to  the 
principle  of  conference  and  to  a  definite 
participation  on  the  part  of  the  work- 
ers in  determining  the  conditions  of 
their  working  life. 

Progress    Toward    a    Democratic 
Industrial  Order 

The  first  step  in  this  approach  to  a 
more  democratic  industrial  order  is 
found  in  the  simple  machinery  of  em- 
ployee representation  where  a  joint 
committee  of  management  and  men 
meets  for  a  discussion  of  matters  of 
mutual  concern.  Even  where  no  ac- 
tual power  is  held  by  the  workers  and 
where  the  matters  open  to  discussion 
are  limited  to  a  very  narrow  field,  the 
getting  together  of  representatives  of 
management  and  labor  for  a  discussion 
of  their  several  interests  and  a  settle- 
ment of  their  differences,  constitutes  a 
definite  approach  to  a  more  democratic, 
and  a  more  ethical,  industrial  order. 

The  more  liberal  employers  add  to 
their  acceptance  of  the  principle  of 
conference  a  recognition  of  the  right  of 
labor  to  large  scale  collective  bargain- 
ing. So  long  as  there  are  within  our 
industrial  order  marked  differences  of 
property  and  power,  there  can  be  no 


141 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academt 


ft 

I' 
I 


full  measure  of  justice  to  the  workers 
if  they  are  not  given  the  privilege  of  full 
affiliation  with  the  largest  possible 
number  of  their  fellows  in  their  craft  or 
their  industry.  When  limited  to  a 
single  establishment,  even  though  it 
may  be  relatively  large,  collective 
bargaining  confers  no  security  upon 
the  workers.  It  is  only  in  the  labor 
union  with  a  large  membership  covering 
a  wide  territory  and  exercising  definite 
power  and  influence  in  the  craft  or 
industry  as  a  whole  that  the  workers 
find  economic  secm-ity. 

It  may  be  contended  that  collective 
bargaining  is  not  in  itself  a  highly 
ethical  performance;  that  it  is  a  balance 
of  forces  rather  than  an  interplay  of 
moral  influences.  Yet  industrial  his- 
tory shows  that  it  is  only  when  justice 
and  security  have  been  established  that 
the  higher  forces  of  our  collective  life 
are  liberated.  Furthermore,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  processes  of  col- 
lective bargaining  have  brought  a  great 
measure  of  intellectual  development 
and  moral  discipline  to  the  ranks  of  the 
wage  earners. 

It  is  now  possible  to  discover  evi- 
dences of  the  passing  over  of  collective 
bargaining,  and  of  those  cruder  proc- 
esses and  activities  which  are  inevi- 
tably incident  to  trade  unionism  at  a 
time  when  it  is  forced  to  struggle  for 
existence,  into  a  broader,  freer  and 
more  generous  interplay  of  intellectual 
and  moral  influences.  There  are  a  few 
examples  in  America  of  industrial  or- 
ganization in  which  the  rights  of  the 
workers  are  secured  by  full  recognition 
of  the  imions  and  where,  at  the  same 
time,  the  solidarity  of  the  establish- 
ment is  maintained  through  a  judicious 
plan  of  representation  and  self-govern- 
ment. Not  only  so,  but  in  certam 
industries,  notably  in  the  clothing 
trades,  a  wise  and  generous  cooperative 
policy  has  brought  about  the  voluntary 
acceptance  by  labor  organizations  of 


definite  responsibility  for  efficient  pro- 
duction. To  single  out  examples  of 
this  salutary  tendency  might  seem 
invidious  in  a  study  of  this  kind,  nor 
would  the  limitation  of  space  permit 
their  adequate  treatment;  but  the 
person  who  is  looking  for  evidences  of 
moral  progress  in  the  industrial  world 
will  find  a  significant  number  of  such 
demonstrations  to  challenge  his  at- 
tention. 

As  for  the  proper  sphere  of  the 
Church  in  relation  to  industrial  problems 
and  controversies,  the  contributors  to 
this  volume  make  apparent  a  wide 
divergence  of  opinion.  But  that  the 
principles  of  religion  are  susceptible  of 
definite  application  to  industrial  prob- 
lems, is  scarcely  any  longer  denied. 
The  propriety  of  the  entrance  of  church- 
men, as  such,  and  of  religious  organiza- 
tions, into  the  field  of  research,  with 
reference  to  particular  controversies,  is 
disputed  by  some  clergymen  and  lay- 
men of  quite  liberal  mind.  Yet  it  is 
probably  true  that  the  tendency  is 
steadily  toward  approval  of  such  un- 
dertakings, at  least  so  long  as  other 
avenues  leading  to  a  full  understanding 
of  industrial  facts  and  a  fair  appraisal 
of  the  issues  involved  are  lacking. 

It  appears  that  in  the  immediate 
future  the  churches  will  be  called  upon 
to  render  more  rather  than  less  specific 
service  in  informing  their  people  con- 
cerning industrial  conditions  and  in- 
terpreting events  in  the  light  of  their 
moral  significance.  It  is  certain,  how- 
ever, that  the  Church  can  successfully 
perform  its  mission  only  by  maintain- 
ing a  totally  im])artial  attitude  toward 
all  the  participants  in  controversy 
and  by  refraining,  in  the  discharge  of 
her  prophetic  duty,  from  those  methods 
of  strife  and  aggressive  harshness  whose 
evil  effects  in  our  industrial  life  it  is  one 
of  the  Church's  chief  tasks  to  remove. 

It  is  gratifying  to  find  writers  of  learn- 
ing, judgment  and  experience,  bearing 


Summary  and  Afterword 


143 


testimony  to  the  increasing  part  played 
by  right  and  reason  and  the  constraints 
of  human  fellowship  in  the  settlement 
of  industrial  disputes  and  the  currents 
of  industrial  development — testimony 
which  amply  justifies  the  recent  efforts 
of  the  churches  to  raise  these  matters 


to  a  higher  plane.  The  most  fruitful 
lines  of  effort  will  doubtless  be  discov- 
ered in  the  course  of  the  ministrv  of  the 
local  church  to  the  workers  in  its  own 
community.  The  measureless  possi- 
bilities of  such  a  ministry  have  been 
suggested  in  these  pages. 


\ 


1 


k. 


OKSssasisr 


Book  Department 

Emerson,  William  R.  P.,  M.  D.    Nutrition      standing  fact.    Probably  this  is  a  reflex  of 


and  Growth  in  Children.  Pp.  xxix,  342. 
Price,  $2.50.  New  York:  D.  Appleton 
&  Co.,  1922. 

Hunt,  Jean  Lee,  Johnson,  Bufford  J., 
Lincoln,  Edith  M.  Health  Education 
and  the  Nutrition  Cla^s.  Pp.  xv,  28L 
Price,  $3.50.  New  York:  E.  P.  Diitton 
&  Company,  1922. 

The  National  Child  Health  Council. 
Child  Health  in  Erie  County,  New  ForA\ 
Pp.  90.  Washington,  D.  C,  Supplement 
to  Mother  and  Child,  Magazine  of  the 
American  Child  Hygiene  Association, 
May,  1922. 

South  Carouna  Mental  Hygiene  Com- 
mittee. A  Report  of  the  South  Caro- 
lina Mental  Hygiene  Survey.  Pp.  73. 
Columbia,  South  Carolina:  South  Caro- 
lina Board  of  Public  Welfare,  Quarterly 
Bulletin  No.  1,  Vol.  Ill,  1922. 

WooLLEY,  Helen  T.,  Ph.D.,  and  Hart, 
HoRNELL.  Feehle-Minded  Ex-School  Chil- 
dren: A  Study  of  Children  Who  Have  Been 
Students  In  Cincinnati  Special  Schooh. 
Pp.  237  to  263.  Cincinnati :  Studies  From 
The  Helen  S.  Traounstine  Foundation, 
Vol.  1,  No.  7,  April,  1921. 

Green,  George  H.  Psychanalysis  In  The 
Class  Room.  Pp.  xi,  272.  Price,  $1.75. 
New  York:  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  1922. 

The  child  is  coming  to  be  the  chief  con- 
cern of  the  social  welfare  movement  in  west- 
em  civilization.  Among  many  evidences  of 
this  fact  is  the  increasing  number  of  seri- 
ous studies  dealing  with  some  one  or  more 
aspects  of  child  welfare.  Not  only  is  the 
number  of  such  books  and  pamphlets  in- 
creasing, but — and  this  is  significant  of  the 
progress  in  the  development  of  the  child 
welfare  movement — the  sentimental  and 
generalized  discussions  of  a  decade  and  more 
ago  are  giving  way  to  concrete,  constructive 
and  scientific  analyses  of  definite  problems. 
Above  are  listed  some  recent  publications 
indicative  of  this  newer  spirit  and  approach. 

Within  the  child  welfare  movement,  the 
emphasis  upon  positive  health  is  an  out- 


the  recognition  by  present  day  statesmen, 
military  leaders,  economists,  employers, 
pedagogues  and  social  workers,  of  the  fun- 
damental importance  of  physical  well-being, 
and  the  imperative  necessity  of  health  con- 
servation during  childhood. 

One  aspect  of  the  problem  of  health  is 
that  of  nutrition.  Until  recently  this  has 
been  entirely  overlooked.  A  few  years  ago 
only  extreme  cases  of  malnutrition  were 
recognized.  Today  we  are  told  that  one- 
third  of  the  children  in  the  United  States  are 
underweight  or  undernourished  or  mal- 
nourished. A  decade  ago  we  conceived  of 
the  problem  as  one  to  be  found  only  among 
the  poverty-stricken  classes  in  our  larger 
cities.  Now  we  see  that  it  is  limited  to  no 
social  classes  and  to  no  locality.  In  appre- 
ciation of  the  extent  and  importance  of  the 
problem  of  malnutrition,  Dr.  William  Emer- 
son of  Boston  is  known  nationally  as  a 
pioneer.  In  1908,  while  in  charge  of  the 
Children's  Outpatient  Clinic  in  the  Boston 
Dispensary,  he  established  the  first  nutri- 
tion class  ever  organized.  Nutrition  and 
Growth  in  Children  represents  the  results  of 
his  experience  with  the  problem  of  malnu- 
trition among  children. 

The  first  part  of  this  book  deals  with  the 
diagnosis  of  malnutrition,  how  it  may  be 
detected,  what  its  symptoms  and  causes  are. 
Dr.  Emerson  contends  that  malnutrition  is 
a  clinical  entity,  with  a  characteristic  his- 
tory, definite  symptoms  and  pathological 
physical  signs.  The  second  part  of  the 
volume  sets  forth  the  methods  of  cure,  out- 
lining a  constructive  program  to  strike  at 
the  root  of  the  trouble,  and  involving  the 
cooperation  of  the  home,  the  school,  the 
medical  progression  and  the  child's  own 
interests.  He  finds  that  a  nutrition  class  is 
the  best  agency  for  the  coordination  of  these 
forces  into  a  program  that  provides  a  com- 
mon appeal.  The  final  chapters  point  out 
the  essential  features  of  a  nutrition  program 
for  the  community,  involving  trained  nutri- 
tion workers,  physicians,  school  lunches, 
summer  camps  and  nutrition  clinics  and 
classes  as  an  important  part  of  the  chil- 


BooK  Department 


145 


144 


4 


dren's  outpatient  department  of  every 
hospital. 

The  book  is  the  result  of  a  rich,  varied 
and  successful  experience.  It  is  plainly  and 
clearly  written,  in  simple  and  practical 
language.  Such  technical  terms  as  must  be 
used  are  explained  in  a  glossary  at  the  end 
of  the  book.  The  text  is  well  illustrated 
with  charts  and  pictures.  It  is  an  invaluable 
book  for  parents,  teachers,  social  workers, 
physicians,  and  for  all  who  love  construc- 
tively the  children  of  men. 

The  development  of  the  nutrition  clinic 
and  class  by  Dr.  Emerson  represents,  of 
course,  an  attack  upon  the  problem  by  a 
I  physician,  working  through  the  facilities  of 

^  the  hospital.     The  next  logical  step  in  its 

development  and  use  involved  its  transfer 
from  the  hospital  to  the  public  school.  This 
was  done  first  in  New  York  City,  and  was 
directly  inspired  by  a  visit  in  1917  of  a  mem- 
ber of  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Educational 
Experiments  to  one  of  Dr.  Emerson's  nu- 
trition classes.  Health  Education  and  the 
Nutrition  Class  is  an  account  of  this  pioneer 
experiment,  undertaken  at  Public  School 
No.  64,  Manhattan,  for  the  purpose  of 
exploring  the  possibilities  of  the  nutrition 
class  in  a  public  school,  and  to  develop  it  as 
a  part  of  our  general  educational  procedure. 
To  those  who  recognize,  on  the  one  hand, 
the  importance  of  the  problem  of  malnu- 
trition, and  who  believe,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  the  position  of  the  school  makes  it  the 
logical  clearing-house  for  the  community's 
knowledge  in  regard  to  children  and  their 
needs,  will  find  this  volume  intensely  signifi- 
cant. 

This  first  experiment  began  in  February, 
1918,  and  the  nutrition  classes  were  discon- 

X  tinned  in  June,  1921.     The  full  details  of 

the  work  attempted,  the  results  obtained  as 
far  as  they  could  be  ascertained,  all  are  pre- 
sented as  fully  as  one  might  wish.  There 
are  numerous  charts  and  tables  setting 
forth  the  statistical  data  of  the  classes  con- 
ducted; the  social,  racial  and  individual 
factors  involved;  the  growth  in  height  and 
weight  of  the  children;  and  other  informa- 
tion necessary  for  the  interpretation  of  the 
charts  presented. 

^  The  last  two  chapters  summarize  what, 

in  the  estimation  of  the  members  of  the 
11 


Bureau  of  Educational  Experiments,  are 
the  possibilities  and  limitations  of  the  nutri- 
tion class  as  a  factor  in  health,  as  well  as 
the  general  educational  problems  of  a  health 
program.  Although  there  is  a  strong  insist- 
ence upon  the  need  for  further  study  and 
research,  certain  conclusions  stand  out 
rather  definitely  by  way  of  challenge  to 
health  workers  and  school  men,  both  of 
which  groups  will  find  it  worth  their  while 
to  familiarize  themselves  with  the  details  of 
this  pioneer  experiment.  Whatever  con- 
clusions may  be  warranted  by  future  experi- 
ments of  like  nature,  there  is  no  gainsaying 
two  facts  that  peer  forth  from  almost  every 
page  of  this  book:  first,  that  public  health 
is  purchasable;  and  second,  that  "the  re- 
sources of  the  school  for  supplying  the  chief 
provisions  essential  to  the  success  of  an 
educational  health  program  are  greatly 
superior  to  those  at  the  command  of  any 
other  agency." 

A  detailed  study  of  the  general  problem  of 
child  health  in  a  restricted  locality  is  pre- 
sented in  the  third  publication  above  listed. 
It  is  the  report  of  a  brief  inquiry  into  the 
conditions  relating  to  child  health  and  to 
the  social  agencies  for  dealing  with  the 
problems  presented  in  the  rural  sections  and 
villages  of  Erie  County,  N.  Y.  This  inquiry 
was  made  under  the  direction  of  the  Na- 
tional Child  Health  Council,  Washington, 
D.  C,  in  cooperation  with  seven  national 
and  two  state  organizations.  Different 
aspects  considered  are  the  "Under  School 
Age  Child,"  "Medical  School  Inspection,'* 
"Medical  Service,"  "Nursing  in  Relation 
to  the  Child,"  "Health  Teaching  in  the 
Schools,"  "Recreation,  Nutrition  of  Chil- 
dren," "Health  Officers,"  "Mental  Hygiene 
of  Children,"  "The  Health  of  Dependent 
Children,"  and  "Health  and  Working  Cer- 
tificates." The  significance  of  this  study  is 
that  it  is  a  first  step  on  the  part  of  the  na- 
tional organizations  involved  in  a  plan  for  a 
definite  coordination  of  field  work,  with 
special  emphasis  upon  the  development  of 
strong  and  well-correlated  local  health 
organization.  In  view  of  these  facts,  of 
considerable  interest  are  the  recommenda- 
tions included,  centering  upon  the  formation 
of  a  county  health  council,  the  establish- 
ment of  a  budget  for  county  health  work. 


146 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


aiifl  the  enlargement  of  the  local  school  dis- 
trict on  a  sound  and  satisfactory  basis. 

Pro})lenis  of  mental  hygiene,  long  rele- 
gated to  the  limbo  of  ignorance  and  neglect, 
are  today  in  process  of  receiving  merited 
attention.  We  are,  however,  still  largely  in 
the  statistics-gathering  stage.  Of  interest, 
accordingly,  are  the  results  of  such  a  survey 
as  that  made  in  South  Carolina  during  1921 
by  ofl5cers  of  the  National  Committee  for 
Mental  Hygiene,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
South  Carolina  Committee  for  Mental 
Hygiene.  The  purpose  of  the  survey  was 
to  determine  just  what  sort  of  problems 
feeble-mindedness  and  insanity  were  to  the 
state,  what  relationship  they  bear  to  other 
social  problems,  and  what  facilities  there  are 
to  deal  with  these  groups. 

The  results  are  startling  yet  not  unlike 
those  unearthed  by  other  recent  studies.  Of 
over  6,000  school  children  examined,  2.8  per 
cent  of  the  white  and  4.2  per  cent  of  the 
colored  children  were  found  to  be  feeble- 
minded. Fully  23.4  per  cent  of  the  white 
children  and  35  per  cent  of  the  colored  chil- 
dren, continues  the  report,  "were  either 
subnormal  in  intelligence,  feeble-minded,  or 
suffering  from  a  psychopathic  personality,  a 
psychoneurosis,  epilepsy  or  an  endocrine 
disorder."  There  are  practically  no  facili- 
ties either  for  the  identification  or  treatment 
of  these  children. 

Figures  such  as  these  serve  to  remind  us 
that  both  in  our  schools  and  in  our  general 
social  program,  we  have  but  scratched  the 
surface. 

From  South  Carolina  to  Cincinnati  is  a 
far  cry,  spatially  and  otherwise.  Feeble- 
Minded  Ex-School  Children  is  a  study  of 
children  who  have  been  students  in  Cincin- 
nati special  schools.  It  includes  all  children 
ever  enrolled  in  classes  for  defectives  in  Cin- 
cinnati who  had,  by  the  summer  of  1918, 
been  out  of  school  for  as  much  as  a  year. 
There  were  203  such  children  in  the  city. 

The  report  emphasizes  the  importance  of 
selecting  children  for  special  classes  as  early 
as  possible  in  their  school  careers,  both  for 
the  sake  of  the  schools  in  which  thev  are 
found  and  for  the  children  themselves;  a 
better  system  of  record  keeping  of  such 
children,  i,e.  a  better  system  of  bookkeep- 


ing of  our  experience;  and,  be  it  noted,  that 
the  majority  of  these  children  belong  in 
families  which  are  problems  to  the  social 
agencies  of  the  city.  The  necessity  of  hav- 
ing the  schools  cooperate  with  these  agen- 
cies in  the  study  and  treatment  of  these 
families  is  emphasized.  In  short,  this  study, 
perused  along  with  the  survey  of  South 
Carolina,  sharply  centers  attention  to  the 
social  cost  of  a  policy  of  neglect. 

Mental  hygiene,  however,  means  much 
more  than  attention  for  the  feeble-minded 
and  insane.  There  is  the  much  larger  and 
more  important,  even  if  less  spectacular, 
problem  of  the  "psychopathology  of  every- 
day life."  If  but  half  of  the  "New  Psychol- 
ogy" has  a  basis  of  fact,  its  overwhelming 
importance  to  all  persons  interested  in  the 
care  and  training  of  children  is  obvious. 
To  teachers  especially  is  it  important,  both 
in  the  way  of  impressing  them  with  the 
far-reaching  results  of  school  life,  and  to  a 
real  rather  than  a  superficial  understanding 
of  their  pupils. 

Thus  far  it  has  been  difficult  for  the  aver- 
age teacher  to  know  where  to  turn  for  a 
knowledge  of  the  essential  facts  which 
recent  research  has  revealed.  Much  of  its 
development  has  taken  place  outside  of  our 
orthodox  educational  institutions,  charla- 
tans have  imposed  upon  the  credulous,  and 
partially  informed  writers  have  included 
much  "under  the  term  that  would  hardly 
be  considered  as  psychoanalysis  by  its 
founder  or  by  any  serious  student  of  the 
subject." 

Here,  at  last,  in  Psychanalysis  in  the  Class 
Room  is  a  book  which  can  safely  be  placed 
into  the  hands  of  the  general  reader,  un- 
trained in  technical  terms  and  aspects.  It 
is  such  a  sensible  book.  It  seizes  upon  and 
states  briefly  yet  clearly  and  simply  n.ost  of 
what  is  considered  sound  in  the  way  of 
contribution  to  psychological  fact,  "while 
maintaining  a  cautious  and  critical  reserve 
toward  ill-digested  speculations."  The 
author  is  a  former  student  of  Prof.  Mac- 
Dougal's,  and  builds  in  general  upon  his 
master's  system  of  psychology  as  outlined 
in  Social  Psychology.  In  view  of  the  author's 
close  association  with  MacDougal,  it  is  in- 
teresting to  note  (pp.  171,  172)  the  follow- 
ing sentences:  "We  infer  the  presence  of  the 


-1 


Book  Department 


147 


M 


s 


' 


instinct  from  the  activity.  But  we  have  no 
first  hand  acquaintance  with  an  instinct. 
...  It  may  be  that  all  these  instincts  .  .  . 
are  in  reality  merely  aspects  of  one  great 
urge  towards  activity." 

Without  wishing  in  any  way  to  detract 
from  the  heartiest  commendation  of  this 
book,  the  reviewer  cannot  but  point  out 
that  in  his  estimation  the  selection  of  the 
title  was  unfortunate.  Not  only  does  the 
author  reject  much  of  what  passes  as  Psy- 
choanalysis, but  the  phrase  "In  the  Class 
Room"  implies  a  restriction  of  value  and 
scope  which  is  nowhere  to  be  found  in  its 
pages. 

James  H.  S.  Bossard. 


Northwestern  University  School  of 
Commerce  Bureau  of  Business  Re- 
search, Horace  Secrist,  Director,  in 
Cooperation  with  the  National  As- 
sociation OF  Retail  Clothiers.  Costs, 
Merchandising  Practices  *  Advertising  and 
Sales  in  the  Retail  Distribution  of  Clothing. 
6  Vol.  Pp.  662.  Price,  $15.00.  New 
York:  Prentice-Hall,  Inc.,  1921. 

T  In  recent  years  many  writers  of  books  on 
business  subjects  have  attempted  scientific 
conclusions  from  a  few  impressionistic 
observations  and  very  incomplete  data. 
The  limitations  of  such  attempts  are  no 
better  illustrated  than  by  the  few  cautious 
generalizations  Professor  Secrist  draws  from 
a  most  painstaking  collection  and  careful 
analysis  of  facts  about  operating  conditions 
in  over  500  retail  clothing  stores  scattered 
over  the  United  States. 

Here  is  a  work  of  over  600  pages,  bound  in 
6  volumes.    Yet  the  data  it  contains  cover 
only  3  years,  1914,  1918,  and  1919,  and 
L  was  obtained  from  only  about  10  per  cent 

of  the  stores  members  of  the  National  Asso- 
ciation of  Retail  Clothiers.  A  further  limi- 
tation is  suggested  by  the  fact  that  approxi- 
mately 76  per  cent  of  the  stores  reporting 
were  located  in  cities  with  a  population  of 
less  than  40,000,  and  only  10  per  cent  in 
cities  with  a  population  of  over  120,000. 
These  limitations  Professor  Secrist  con- 
stantly emphasizes  through  his  work. 

The  purpose  of  the  work,  as  described  by 
"♦  the  author,  is  to  "develop  out  of  the  actual 

experience  of  clothing  stores  a  series  of  stand- 
ards which  may  serve  as  guides."    Profes- 


sor Secrist's  work  is  noteworthy  because 
through  it  all  he  applies  the  scientific  method 
most  painstakingly  and  precisely.  He  first 
presents  the  facts  as  he  has  collected  and 
analyzed  them  and  then  from  these  facts 
synthesises  his  conclusions.  These  conclu- 
sions he  says  are  of  two  t^^es. 

First,  cost  and  other  ratios;  and  second,  under- 
lying principles  of  trade  tendencies  which  charac- 
terize stores  of  different  size  and  location.  .  .  . 
The  actual  ratios  are  subject  to  change;  the 
underlying  principles  seem  to  be  general.  (Vol. 
5,  p.  3.) 

The  principles  to  which  Professor  Secrist 
refers  are  the  generalizations  he  sjTithesises 
from  the  detailed  data.  As  a  word  of  cau- 
tion against  their  heedless  acceptance  he 
says:  (Vol.  6,  p.  499) 

Generalization  has  been  indulged  in  only  when 
the  data  seemed  conclusively  to  point  to  the  exist- 
ence of  a  principle  and  even,  under  these  circum- 
stances, only  when  the  limiting  conditions  and 
the  exceptions  were  brought  to  the  reader's  at- 
tention. 

Again  on  page  500  (Vol.  6)  he  says: 

In  undertaking  this  study  it  was  felt  that  busi- 
ness and  industry  need  facts;  that  business  will 
not  run  on,  but  down  on  the  momentum  of  cus- 
tomary action  and  that  more  analysis  of  business 
problems  and  equal  sharing  in  the  results  are  re- 
quired if  rule  of  thumb  methods  are  to  be  dis- 
placed. It  was  begun  in  the  belief  that  there  are 
underlying  principles  in  business  which  can  be 
determined,  measured  and  used  as  guides  to 
action,  and  that  this  fact  modern  business  must 
come  to  realize  if  planning  and  foresight  are  really 
to  characterize  it. 

In  the  summary  contained  in  Vol.  6  (p. 
571)  Professor  Secrist  enumerates  the  results 
of  the  study. 

Two  types  of  conclusions  have  been  reached 
from  the  study  of  Costs,  Merchandising  Practices, 
Advertising  and  Sales  in  the  Retail  Distribution  of 
Clothing:  first,  that  which  pertains  to  the  abso- 
lute and  relative  amounts  of  sales,  rent,  wages 
and  salaries,  advertising,  etc.,  for  stores  of  dif- 
ferent size,  location,  age,  merchandising  and  ac- 
counting methods,  etc.,  and  second,  that  which 
relates  to  the  tendencies  of  the  amounts  to  de- 
crease, increase,  or  remain  constant  as  stores 
increase  or  decrease  in  size  or  change  in  location 
and  operating  conditions.  The  first  type  of  con- 
clusion describes  what  might  be  called  static  con- 
ditions; the  second  relates  to  the  dynamic  aspects 


148 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


III 

I 


of  the  problems.  The  first  describes  the  stores  in 
cross-section,  as  it  were;  the  second  reveals  them 
under  conditions  of  change  from  location  to  loca- 
tion, size  to  size,  etc. 

The  dynamic  aspects  mentioned  are 
d>Tiamic  only  in  the  sense  tliat  they  are  an 
advance  picture  of  static  conditions.  A 
merchant  with  a  small  store  can  visualize 
the  static  picture  of  a  larger  store  corre- 
sponding to  tlie  conditions  under  which  he 
proposes  to  operate.  The  merchant  has  a 
guide  to  the  normal  or  average  operating 
costs  imder  varying  conditions.  \Miether 
or  not  he  should  accept  the  average  as  his 
ideal  is  another  matter.  A  really  dynamic 
attitude  implies  the  idea  of  initiative,  vision 
and  growtli.  Standards,  averages  and  forms 
are  useful  as  guides,  but  they  should  not  be 
limitations. 

From  a  technical  standpoint  the  method 
of  presentation  Professor  Secrist  employes 
is  excellent.  The  work  is  divided  into  G 
volumes  of  about  100  pages  each.  Each 
volume  covers  a  division  of  the  subjects  and 
within  these  limits  is  complete  in  itself.  A 
list  of  the  titles  of  the  volumes  gives  a  view 
of  the  detailed  scope  of  the  work. 

Vol.  1 :  Sales  and  sales  ratios  in  retail  clothing 
stores  (statistics  and  statistical  ratios). 

Vol.  2:  Expenses  and  expense  ratios — rent  and 
wages  and  salaries. 

Vol.  3:  General,  busheling  and  total  expenses. 

Vol.  4:  Advertising  methods,  expenses  and 
expense  ratios. 

Vol.  5:  Purchases,  inventories,  pm-chase  dis- 
counts, stock  turnover,  and  capital  turnover. 

Vol.  6:  Buildings  and  store  equipment,  mer- 
chandise sold,  store  methods  and  accounting 
practices. 

Summary  of  expense  and  trade  tendencies, 
questionnaire  and  index. 

From  these  volume  titles  a  more  general 
grouping  of  the  subject  matter  can  be 
drawn : 

Sales  costs  (Vol.  1). 

Other  operating  costs  (Vols.  2,  3,  and  4). 

General. 

Rent. 

Wages. 

Salaries. 

Busheling. 

Advertising. 
Purchasing  and  stock  costs  (Vol.  5). 
Buildings  and  equipment  (Vol.  6). 
General  summary  (Vol.  6). 


Each  volume  is  summarized  in  an  intro- 
ductory chapter  at  the  beginning  of  the 
volume.  A  summary  and  index  of  all  the 
results  is  incorporated  in  the  last  volume. 
Tlie  text  is  not  a  mere  presentation  of  facts. 
Every  attempt  is  made  to  show  not  the 
importance  of  the  facts  as  such,  but  their 
relation  and  significance  to  business  prac- 
tices in  general.  Visualization  of  these  re- 
lationships is  made  possible  by  the  frequent 
summaries  and  by  the  prolific  use  of  graphi- 
cal as  well  as  statistical  charts. 

The  data  which  the  report  summarizes 
were  obtained  by  the  questionnaire  method. 
The  questionnaire  employed  is  itself  an 
effective  statement  of  the  importance  of 
the  information  requested.  For  this  reason 
the  data  reported  are  likely  to  be  more  than 
ordinarily  accurate.  Combined  with  this  is 
the  assurance  implied  by  the  analysis  of 
this  data  by  a  statistical  authority  of  the 
eminence  of  Professor  Secrist. 

The  work  is  a  pioneer  application  of  the 
scientific  method  to  a  collection  of  facts 
about  practices  in  a  specific  business.  Im- 
portant as  it  is  as  a  guide  or  measure  for 
practices  in  the  retail  clothing  business,  it 
also  suggests  possibilities  for  further  studies 
in  this  field  with  the  scientific  method  em- 
ployed in  this  work  as  a  guide,  and  for  simi- 
lar studies  in  other  businesses. 

Herbert  W.  Hess. 


Ireland,  Alleyne.  Democracy  and  the 
Human  Equation.  Pp.  251.  Price,  $3.00. 
New  York:  E.  P.  Dutton  and  Company, 
1921. 

The  reviewer  has  read  through  this  book 
with  care  and  has  read  some  of  it  twice,  out 
of  fairness  to  the  author,  in  order  if  possible 
to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  it  makes  no 
special  contribution  to  political  or  social 
knowledge  and  that  it  has  no  particular 
value  in  the  way  of  constructive  suggestions. 

Two  of  the  key  premises  of  the  book  are: 

The  distinguishing  feature  of  Republicanism  is 
that  legislators  shall  be  representatives;  the  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  Democracy  is  that  legislators 
shall  be  delegates. 


Assuming  equal  knowledge  and  intelligence  in 
each,  a  Representative  best  discharges  his  duties 
by  being  independent;  a  Delegate  by  being  subser- 
vient. 


Book  Department 


149 


These  are  very  nice  conclusions.  But 
why  print  a  book  about  them?  In  the  social 
process  of  the  modem  world  our  legislators 
in  some  matters  will  act  as  delegates  but  in 
most  matters  as  representatives.  Just 
what  this  social  process  is  and  what  can  be 
done  to  get  facts  to  constituents  so  that 
even  delegates  may  take  a  higher  type  of 
action  becomes  all  important.  For  cer- 
tainly the  modem  citizen  is  not  going  to 
cease  his  efforts  to  advance  his  own  interests 
as  he  understands  them.  Is  not  the  prob- 
lem that  of  enlightening  this  understanding 
rather  than  that  of  saying  that  the  citizen 
should  blandly  allow  the  chosen  represen- 
tative always  to  speak  for  him? 


Mayers,  Lewis,  Ph.D.,  LL.B.  The  Fed- 
eral Service.  Pp.  xvi,  607.  Price,  $5.00. 
New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Company, 
1922. 

This  book  on  The  Federal  Service  is  an- 
other one  of  the  splendid  studies  in  adminis- 
tration put  out  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Institute  for  Government  Research  of 
which  Mr.  W.  F.  Willoughby  is  Director. 
The  book  can  best  be  described  as  a  hand- 
book on  Civil  Service.  It  is  the  work  of  a 
careful  student.  The  contents  of  the  book 
are  portrayed  in  the  titles  of  the  leading 
chapters  which  are  as  follows: 

"The  Law  and  Tradition  of  Selection  and 
Tenure;" 

"The  Extension  of  Formal  Systems  of  Selec- 
tion;" 

"The  Elimination   of   Political   Interference 
Inside  the  Service;" 

"The  Classification   and  Standardization  of 
Positions  and  Salaries;" 

"Selection  by  Promotion  from  Within  Versus 
Recruitment  from  Without;" 

"  Methods  of  Selection  from  Within;  Reassign- 
ment and  Promotion;" 

'Recruit  Methods:  Some  Basic  Aspects;" 
'Recruitment  Methods:  The  Classified  Com- 
petitive Service;" 

"Recruitment  Methods:  The  Unclassified  Serv- 
ice;" 

"The  Maintenance  of  Individual  Efficiency;" 
"Working  Conditions;" 

"Organization  and  Personnel  Administration;" 
"Employees  Organizations  and  Committees;" 


"] 


FuRNiss,  Edgar  S.  Foreign  Exchange.  Pp. 
X,  409.  Price,  $2.50.  Boston:  Hough- 
ton Mifflin  Company,  1922. 

From  the  days  of  Adam  Smith,  Ricardo 
and  Mill  problems  of  international  trade 
have  been  complex.  Of  all  these  problems 
those  connected  with  foreign  exchange  are 
perhaps  the  most  intricate.  Previous  to 
1914  we  were  tyros  in  this  field  and  ad- 
mitted it.  We  supplied  the  goods;  England 
and  Germany  attended  to  international 
finances.  Since  the  War  we  have  begun  in 
real  earnest  to  be  our  own  international 
bankers. 

Our  entrance  into  the  field  of  foreign 
exchange  called  forth  a  flood  of  articles  on 
this  subject;  several  recent  books  also  have 
presented  a  more  or  less  comprehensive 
treatment  of  the  theory  and  practice  of  for- 
eign exchange.  Professor  Fumiss  attacks 
his  subject  from  a  somewhat  unusual  angle. 
Instead  of  emphasizing  banking  mechan- 
ism and  purely  banking  problems,  he  aims 
to  lay  stress  "upon  the  problems  of  the 
business  man  concerned  with  foreign  trade, 
as  well  as  upon  the  broader  questions  of 
national  policy."  This  new  emphasis,  how- 
ever, is  in  method  of  treatment  rather  than 
in  topics  considered,  since  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  book  deals  with  banking  prob- 
lems. 

After  an  introductory  chapter  which 
shows  how  bankers'  bills  and  commercial 
bills  arise  in  international  trade,  and  how 
they  serve  to  finance  it,  the  writer  proceeds 
for  over  two  hundred  pages  to  show  in  detail 
how  the  supply  of  and  demand  for  these 
bills  affect  the  rate  of  exchange,  and  what 
operations  are  performed  by  business  men 
and  bankers  in  handling  these  documents. 
The  careful  classifications  of  this  part  help 
the  reader  to  understand  complex  processes. 
The  last  four  chapters  (pp.  295-404)  pre- 
sent a  sane  discussion  of  foreign  investment, 
and  money  markets  in  London  and  New 
York. 

Professor  Fumiss  knows  his  subject  and 
has  supplemented  his  lucid  explanations 
with  concrete  examples  of  the  business  prob- 
lems connected  with  payments  for  imported 
goods.  In  spite  of  this,  foreign  exchange 
remains  a  technical  subject  and  one  difficult 
to  understand  even  for  those  who  know  how 


150 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


I 


to  trade  intelligently  with  other  peoples. 
The  treatment  deals  with  normal  conditions 
of  payment  in  international  trade.  This 
leaves  the  business  man  in  a  quandary  as  to 
guiding  principles  under  present  conditions, 
but  no  scientific  treatment  could  do  other- 
wise. Abnormal  conditions  mean  absence 
of  guiding  principles.  The  economic  rea- 
soning underlying  "purchasing  power  par- 
ities," so  emphasized  by  Professor  Cassell, 
is  given  an  excellent  presentation  (p.  55  ff.). 
This  explanation  ought  to  go  far  toward 
making  clear  to  business  men  and  students 
how  different  price  levels  in  countries  aflFect 
the  value  of  their  currencies  when  quoted 
in  terms  of  other  monies.  Complete  copies 
of  cable  transfers,  bills  of  exchange,  trust 
receipts,  letters  of  credit,  travelers'  checks, 
acceptance  agreements,  etc.,  make  the  book 
a  more  usable  class  text. 

The  arithmetic  of  certain  illustrations 
needs  correction:  Page  45 — In  the  state- 
ment of  the  gross  weight  in  grains  of  the 
normal  German  gold  mark  the  decimal 
point  has  slipped  one  unit  to  the  riglit  (61. 
458  being  given  instead  of  6.1458).  A  slip 
in  the  opposite  direction  would  have  been 
more  appropriate  under  present  conditions ! 
Page  1:27 — British  exchange  was  "pegged" 
at  $4.76  instead  of  $4.70.  Page  278— The 
conversion  of  $4000  into  English  pounds 
gives  £836  16s  5d  rather  than  £83  13s  7d. 
Page  279— The  conversion  of  $4073.31  at 
4.85  gives  £839  17s  2d  rather  than  £83  19s 
7d.  Professor  Furniss  has  at  times  been 
overzealous  in  his  desire  to  be  complete,  a 
zeal  which  has  led  to  repetition.  But  these 
are  minor  matters. 

This  book  is  a  valuable  addition  to  the 
literature  of  a  subject  which  is  more  and 
more  compelling  attention  from  business 
men  and  students  of  foreign  trade. 

Harry  T.  Collings. 


Vandenberg,  Arthur  Hendrick.  The 
Greatest  American — Alexander  Hamilton. 
Pp.  xvi,  353.  Price,  $2.50.  New  York: 
G,  P.  Putnam's  Sons.     1922. 

This  is  not  so  much  a  biography  as  it  is 
adulation  and  hero-worship.  The  book  is 
not  critical.  Hamilton  is  one  of  the  truly 
great  figures  of  our  national  life  and  the 
book  plays  the  useful  purpose  in  building  up 


a  fiction  about  Hamilton.  Those  who  want 
to  make  orations  will  find  many  illustrations 
from  this  text.  The  critical  student,  how- 
ever, will  find  practically  no  contributions 
in  the  book.  Hamilton  is  preeminent 
among  those  of  our  statesmen  who  are 
worthy  of  a  critical  estimate  because  his 
abilities  and  accomplishments  will  stand 
faithful  portrayal. 

Clark,  Jr.,  W.  Irving,  M.  D.,  F.  A.  C.S. 

Health  Service  in  Industry.  Pp.  168. 
Price,  $2.00.  New  York:  The  Macmil- 
lan  Co.,  1922. 

There  is  a  lot  of  sound  sense  and  experi- 
ence in  this  little  volume  by  Dr.  Clark.  It 
will  be  of  most  value  to  the  manager  of  a 
small  or  medium-sized  concern  who  wishes 
to  develop  a  constructive  health  policy  that 
will  make  for  bodily  integrity  of  his  employ- 
ees and  does  not  know  just  how  to  begin. 
But  it  will  also  prove  of  value  to  the  indus- 
trial physician,  especially  if  he  is  just  start- 
ing in  industrial  work;  to  the  personnel 
executive  who  may  have  the  problem  of 
the  relation  of  the  plant  physician  and  his 
work  to  the  whole  personnel  policy  of  the 
firm;  and  to  the  student  of  personnel  as  well, 
especially  if  he  or  she  be  interested  in  indus- 
trial hygiene. 

The  object  of  this  book  is  to  give  to  those  hav- 
ing no  actual  experience  in  industrial  medicine  a 
short  workable  plan  outlining  the  administration 
and  methods  of  a  health  department  in  industry. 

The  author  has  not  attempted  to  discuss  more 
than  one  approved  method  of  doing  a  thing.  He 
has  not  attempted  to  give  methods  of  treatment 
except  as  examples.  Everything  suggested  has 
been  tried  and  is  in  use  in  some  large  factory. 

It  is  presumed  that  the  reader  is  either  a  doctor 
or  the  superintendent  of  a  factory. 

The  contents  of  the  book  are  suggested 
by  such  typical  chapter  headings  as  "The 
Medical  Needs  of  a  Small  Factory;"  "Or- 
ganization of  a  Medical  Department  in  a 
Large  Factory;"  "Factory  Dispensaries;" 
"The  Physical  Examinations;"  "Sanita- 
tion;" and  "Cost  of  Medical  Supervision." 

By  living  up  to  its  attempt  to  concentrate 
on  matters  of  administration  and  methods, 
Dr.  Clark  has  submitted  for  ready  use  a 
great  deal  of  usable  practical  methods  and 
of  information.    He  makes  very  specific  and 


0     , 


Book  Department 


151 


helpful  suggestions  concerning  the  ways  by 
which  the  management  of  small  shops  may 
obtain  adequate  but  economical  health  serv- 
ice, which  in  the  past  they  usually  have 
failed  to  get.  The  statement  of  the  routines 
to  be  followed  in  case  of  physical  examina- 
tions and  sickness,  of  the  minimum  equip- 
ment required  for  various  situations  and 
purposes,  of  estimated  proper  cost  for  differ- 
ent sized  enterprises,  and  of  other  similar 
matters  are  very  much  to  the  point  and 
very  welcome.  They  should  be  of  real  aid 
to  a  plant  physician  trying  to  develop 
standard  equipment  and  standard  practice 
in  his  department. 

Dr.  Clark  also  shows  a  grasp  of  the  ethical 
responsibility  of  the  factory  doctor,  when 
he  savs,  "It  is  considered  advisable  that  the 
same  relation  of  doctor  and  patient  be 
maintained  as  strickly  in  industry  as  in  pri- 
vate practice.  The  doctor  should  discuss 
the  tj'pe  of  work  the  patient  can  and  can 
not  do  w^th  the  employment  manager,  but 
not  the  physical  condition  necessitating  it." 

Joseph  H.  Willits. 


Uenks,  J.  W.  and  Lauck,  W.  J.  The  Im- 
migration Problem.  First  Edition,  re- 
vised and  enlarged  by  Smith,  Rufus  D. 
Pp.  xxvii,  655.  Price,  $3.00.  New  York: 
Funk  &  Wagnalls  Co.,  1922. 

This  revision  of  what  is  in  many  ways  one 
of  the  most  useful  of  the  books  on  immigra- 
tion will  be  welcomed  by  students  and  teach- 
ers. Aside  from  the  use  of  the  figures  of 
the  Census  of  1920  and  the  legislation  of 
recent  date  the  most  significant  change  is 
the  addition  of  a  chapter  on  "Oriental  Im- 
migration to  the  United  States"  and  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  immigration  problem  of  other 
countries,  together  with  digests  of  foreign 
laws. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  bibliography 
suggested  for  further  details  is  so  defective. 
If  the  immigration  policies  of  other  countries 
are  of  importance  why  is  no  mention  made 
of  The  Problem  of  the  Immigrant  by  Wlielp- 
ley?  If  assimilation  is  important  why  is  no 
reference  made  to  Drachsler,  Democracy  and 
Assimilation  (1920).'*  Why  is  no  mention 
made  of  studies  of  given  races  in  America 
such  as  Balch,  Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens,  as 
Capek,  The  Cechs  in  America  (1920).^    The 


writer  of  this  note  would  have  liked  to  see 
included  some  reference  to  the  January, 
1921  volume  of  The  Annals  in  connection 
with  the  Japanese  immigration. 

HouRWiCH,  Isaac  A.  Immigration  and 
Labor.  Second  Edition.  Pp.  xxxii, 
574.  Price,  $6.00.  New  York:  B,  W. 
Huebsch,  1922. 

Practically  the  only  changes  as  compared 
with  the  first  edition  of  1912  are  the  omis- 
sion of  the  discussion  of  some  of  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  Immigration  Commis- 
sion and  the  inclusion  of  a  chapter  on  "The 
Lessons  of  the  War,"  together  with  a  rather 
vitriolic  reply  to  certain  critics  of  the  first 
edition.  The  author's  use  of  Ph.D.  after 
his  name  seems  a  bit  inconsistent  with  his 
attitude  towards  the  academic  brethren. 

The  author  states  that  formerly  organized 
labor  was  hostile  to  immigration  but  that 
now  the  fear  of  radical  East  Europe  has  led 
the  capitalists  to  join  in  the  demand  for  re- 
striction. He  then  proceeds  to  show  that 
restriction  will  not  improve  the  condition 
of  the  American  laborer.  Some  of  his  crit- 
icisms of  popular  ideas  are  keen  and  worthy 
of  attention.  He  weakens  our  faith  in  the 
balance  of  his  judgment  by  his  extreme 
antagonism  to  capitalism. 

Patten,  Simon  N.  Mud  Hollow.  Pj).  384. 
Price,  $1.90.  Philadelphia:  Dorrance 
and  Company,  1922. 

President  Meiklejohn  of  Amlierst  in  liis 
The  Liberal  College  has  forcibly  pointed  out 
one  of  the  limitations  of  scholars.  He  points 
out  that,  if  a  man  wishes  to  be  considered 
scholarly,  he  must  work  assiduously  within 
the  conventionally  set  limits  of  his  field  and 
devote  little  if  any  thinking  to  other  fields 
in  which  he  can  not  speak  as  a  specialist. 
The  result  tends  to  be  knowledge  by  water- 
tight compartments,  and  points  of  view  that 
are  scientific  within  the  limits  of  a  particu- 
lar field  and  intolerant  of  the  conclusions 
and  importance  of  those  of  other  fields. 
Accordingly  we  find  comparatively  little 
effort  to  see  the  relationships  between  fields 
of  knowledge  and  little  ability  to  unify  their 
conclusions  into  a  whole  that  will  represent 
a  complete  picture. 

This  is  especially  true  in  the  social  sci- 


152 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


Book  Department 


153 


ences.  Most  of  us  have  been  busy  at  work, 
each  considering  a  section  of  society  from  the 
standpoint  of  his  own  field.  This  is  a  neces- 
sary stage  of  evohition,  but  it  tends  to  result 
in  more  "experts"  than  economists,  and 
more  partisans  than  statesmen.  Dr.  Patten 
himself  suggested  this  condition  a  few  weeks 
before  his  death  when,  half  in  joke,  he  said, 
"The  economists  are  all  over  sixty  years 
old;  those  from  forty  to  sixty  are  socialists; 
and  those  between  twenty  and  forty  are, 
or  are  trying  to  be,  business  experts." 

Mud  Hollow  was  published  a  few  weeks  be- 
fore the  "stroke"  which  led  to  Dr.  Patten's 
death  on  July  24, 1922.  It  is  a  brilliant,  dar- 
ing and  suggestive  attempt  to  see  and  to  un- 
derstand the  whole  of  American  civilization. 
By  application  of  the  combined  knowledge 
available  in  a  number  of  fields  such  as 
economics,  biology,  sociology  and  psychol- 
ogy. Professor  Patten  has  sought  to  explain 
the  fundamental  changes  that  have  taken 
place  in  American  society  and  which  repre- 
sent the  evolutionary  process  now  going  on. 

The  book  is  half  novel  and  half  essay. 
The  first  half  presents  the  life  of  "Mud  Hol- 
low" and  exists  purely  for  illustrative  pur- 
poses in  order  that  the  second  half  of  the 
book  may  be  better  understood.  "Mud 
Hollow"  is  a  small  farming  community  in 
the  middle  west  and  "is  the  base  on  which 
the  nation  rests.  It  is  the  normal  in  the 
sense  that  it  has  the  soil  and  mechanism  on 
which  prosperity  depends,  without  the 
impressment  of  a  foreign  culture  which 
would  thwart  local  tendencies.  Normalcy 
may  be  defined  as  prosperity  without  cul- 
ture. Money  to  do  with  and  not  knowing 
what  to  do." 

The  second  part  of  the  book  is  an  essay, 
interpreting  the  life  of  "Mud  Hollow."  It 
is,  by  far,  the  more  important  part  of  the 
book;  it  represents  the  fruition  of  Dr.  Pat- 
ten's economic  and  sociological  thinking. 

In  this  second  part  he  recognizes  the 
wreckage  of  many  of  the  theories  currently 
held  before  the  War — his  own  included. 
"The  decay  is  not  physical;  it  is  mental, 
spiritual,  logical.  It  is  those  who  think 
or  at  least  should  think  who  have  failed. 
There  is  something  wrong  in  the  basis  of 
our  thought;  our  premises,  our  historical 
interpretations,  our  long-standing  tradi- 
tions need  revision." 


"Human  nature  is  vaguer,  more  emo- 
tional, with  fewer  of  the  rock  attributes 
than  was  thought." 

He-  sets  out  to  find  his  new  basis  for 
thought  by  an  analysis  of  the  types  being 
brought  into  dominance  in  Mud  Hollow, 
i.e.,  America.  For  an  indefinite  period,  we 
will  be  dominated  by  the  mass  judgments 
of  that  group  of  citizens,  which,  taken  col- 
lectively, has  the  greatest  income  power. 
This  group.  Dr.  Patten  defines  as  the  group 
with  incomes  of  from  two  to  three  thousand 
dollars.  Neither  the  poverty  class  nor  the 
property  class  will  control. 

The  dominant  majority  is  primarily  of 
the  motor  type.  It  will  insist  upon  con- 
formity. Dr.  Patten  then  goes  on  to  show 
that  conformity  is  the  method  of  social  prog- 
ress under  majority  rule,  whereas  personal 
liberty  was  the  method  under  minority  rule. 
Leaders  will  be  those  who  make  progress 
with  the  masses  rather  than  those  who  sink 
into  self-satisfied  sterility  by  condemning 
"uncultured  mob  judgments." 

Old  morality  is  the  morality  which  minorities 
have  imposed  on  majorities. 

The  grind  of  conformity  must  precede  the  rise 
of  democracy.  ...  In  democracy,  men  may  differ 
on  minor  but  not  on  major  premises.  Minorities 
are  outlaws  unless  they  accept  the  axioms  of 
majority  thought.  If,  in  a  prohibition  nation,  a 
man  contends  that  alcohol  is  beneficial,  he  is  an 
outlaw,  but  if  he  thinks  the  methods  of  enforcing 
prohibition  are  ineffective,  his  opinion  is  entitled 
to  respect. 

The  real  force  of  the  social  lies  not  in  trade 
unions,  industrial  cooperation  and  distributive 
processes,  but  in  a  vague  feeling  of  comradeship 
which  binds  not  like  with  like,  but  which  brings 
the  dissimilar  into  organic  unity. 

Conformity  seeks  to  lift  all  to  a  com- 
mon level  and  is  not  so  concerned  with 
the  setting  of  new  standards  by  minority 
aggression. 

"Conformity  thus  produces  a  better  aver- 
age than  morality." 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  book.  Dr.  Patten 
describes,  in  biological  and  psychological 
terms,  the  changes  which  make  for  or 
against  adjustment  to  new  environments 
and  which,  therefore,  hasten  or  retard 
evolution. 

It  is  the  Wish  not  the  Germ  Cell  which  deter- 
mines action.  .  .  .  The  correct  order  I  assume  to 


A 


A 


be:  first,  the  direct  action  of  natural  forces  on  life; 
second,  the  appearance  of  a  wish  to  do  what 
natural  forces  tend  to  create;  third,  a  power  to  do 
through"  the  growth  of  inherited  traits.  Then 
judgments  are  formed  which  harmonize  with 
natural  tendencies.  .  .  .  The  wish  thus  represents 
evolution  yet  to  come,  just  as  the  will  represents 
the  stages  through  which  evolution  has  gone. 
Between  the  two  is  an  eternal  conflict,  some  ele- 
ment of  which  we  face  every  time  we  go  through 
a  period  of  depression.  Willlessness  is  a  defect  of 
character  and  yet  it  is  the  only  door  through 
which  evolution  can  come. 

Dr.  Patten  then  points  out  the  effects  of 
the  suppression  of  the  wish  in  the  creation 
of  abortive  action  and  inferior  complexes. 
Conversely,  he  points  out  the  method  and 
result  of  expression  in  terms  of  creative 
action  and  positive  adjustment.  Both  he 
states  in  such  concrete  terms  as  sex  morality, 
the  position  of  women,  the  development  of 
children,  religion  and  life  work. 

Dr.  Patten's  theories  are  here  founded 
upon  the  findings  of  the  genetic  psychologist. 
Any  adequate  criticism  of  his  psychological 
position  should  come  from  psychologists. 
Certainly,  however,  he  has  gone  much 
j^f  urther  than  those  who  have  sought  to  link 
psychology  and  economics  by  making  an 
exhaustive  list  of  instincts  and  then  deduc- 
ing that  certain  acts  are  the  result  of  certain 
instincts.  Joint  discussion  by  psychologists 
and  economists  of  their  common  problems 
should  result  from  this  book  to  the  enrich- 
ment of  both  fields  of  knowledge. 

Many  will  criticise  this  book, — for  its 
literary  form  and  style,  for  its  unconven- 
tional attitude  toward  morality,  for  incon- 
sistency in  places,  and  for  generalizations 
that  may  in  places  be  too  broad.  But  such 
critics  should  consider  and  discuss  rather 
the  larger  ideas  of  the  book,  and  should  re- 
member that  prophecy  can  scarcely  be 
expected  to  be  worked  out  into  a  logical, 
consistent  and  detailed  philosophy,  but 
rather  must  devote  itself  to  outlining  new 
territory  for  human  thinking.  In  course  of 
time  the  reviewer  believes  that  this  contri- 
bution by  Dr.  Patten  at  the  close  of  his 
life  will  be  reckoned  a  major  contribution 
to  human  thinking, — as  important  as  any 
he  has  ever  made. 

"Each  master  mind  is  he  who  points  the 
way  from  one  base  to  another." 

Joseph  H.  Willits. 


J.  Walter  Thompson  Company.  Popula- 
tion and  its  Distribution.  Pp.  335.  Price, 
$5.00.  New  York:  J.  Walter  Thompson 
Company,  1921. 

This  book  presents  a  useful  and  conven- 
ient arrangement  of  the  population  figures 
of  the  1920  census  by  states  and  by  groups 
of  cities.  This  edition,  the  third,  in  addition 
to  listing  all  towns  in  the  United  States  of 
500  inhabitants  and  over  with  their  coun- 
ties, has  added  such  information  as  the  mile- 
age of  rural  road  and  of  railroads,  the  num- 
ber of  autos  and  trucks,  electric  passenger 
cars,  telephones,  electrically  wired  houses, 
central  power  stations,  and  an  outline  map 
of  each  state  showing  the  location  of  its 
principal  centers.  The  trade  information 
has  been  extended  to  include  thirty  sepa- 
rate classifications  of  dealers,  wholesale  and 
retail,  in  the  leading  trades.  These  classifi- 
cations give  the  number  of  dealers  in  cities 
of  50,000  and  over,  as  well  as  in  states. 

Lippman,  Walter.     Public  Opinion.    Pp. 
ix,427.     Price,  $2.75.     New  York;  Har- 
court.  Brace  and  Company,  1922. 
Here  is  a  book  every  student  of  govern- 
ment should  read.    The  reader  will  recover 
but  he  will  never  thereafter  be  quite  the 
same.    It  is  misleading  to  entitle  the  book 
"Public  Opinion."    It  is  more  accurately 
a  criticism  of  the  limits  of  attention  and  of 
knowledge  and  hence  of  the  immobility  of 
the  average  mind  to  meet  the  rapidly  chang- 
ing problems  of  the  present  day.    As  a  crit- 
icism the  book  will  endure  and  will  have 
far-flung  usefulness.    That  usefulness,  how- 
ever, will  be  more  in  the  line  of  stimulating 
thought  than  in  the  way  of  useful  conclu- 
sions.   The  style  of  the  book  is  its  finest 
feature.    It  is  a  great  relief  to  find  an  author- 
itative work  on  government  couched  not 
in  the  sedentary  verbiage  of  the  average 
academician  but  in  a  style  that  allures  while 
it  instructs. 

The  book  would  have  left  a  better  impres- 
sion had  it  been  called  what  it  is — a  study 
of  the  limits  of  attention  in  a  democracy. 
There  are  five  pages  in  the  chapter  on  "A 
New  Image"  devoted  to  constructive  sug- 
gestions and  the  constructive  suggestions 
are  not  at  all  of  a  size  and  character  equal 
to  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  criticisms 
that  fill  the  pages  of  iJie  book.  In  this  chap- 
ter on  "A  New  Image"  the  author  says: 


154 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


Outside  the  rather  narrow  range  of  our  own 
possible  attention,  social  control  depends  upon 
devising  standards  of  living  and  methods  of  audit 
by  which  the  acts  of  public  officials  and  industrial 
directors  are  measured.  We  cannot  ourselves 
inspire  or  guide  all  these  acts,  as  the  mystical 
democrat  has  always  imagined.  But  we  can 
steadily  increase  our  real  control  over  these  acts 
by  insisting  that  all  of  them  shall  be  plainly 
recorded,  and  their  results  objectively  measured. 
I  should  say,  perhaps,  that  we  can  progressively 
hope  to  insist.  For  the  working  out  of  such 
standards  and  of  such  audits  has  only  begun. 

A  critique  of  this  kind  is  needed  in  politi- 
cal science  and  is  just  as  useful  to  economics 
or  to  sociology,  and  for  tliat  matter  to  busi- 
ness, for  the  limitations  to  attention  and  the 
inaccuracies  of  tlie  pictures  in  our  minds 
and  the  (-lutch  of  the  stereotypes  which  we 
judge  are  just  as  applicable  to  business  and 
to  making  a  living  as  to  government.  One 
would  be  apt  to  feel  after  reading  this  book 
that  government  must  perforce  be  the 
weakest  of  institutions  unless  he  reflects  at 
the  same  time  that  this  same  weakness  of 
human  nature  and  human  knowledge  ap- 
plies to  all  institutions. 

In  addition  to  a  scientific  report  of  all  the 
facts  as  a  basis  for  public  opinion  the 
author  urges  that  the  social  scientists  take  a 
larger  part  in  directing  social  activities.  He 
thinks  it  high  time  that  the  social  scientists 
cease  merely  to  chew  over  and  over  the 
cuds  provided  for  them  by  others. 

We  have  had  no  advance  in  political 
philosophy  since  tlie  days  of  John  Locke. 
To  the  mind  of  the  reviewer  this  book  is  the 
first  contribution  to  a  new^  political  philoso- 
phy based  on  a  scientific  knowledge  of  the 
innate  urges  within  individuals  and  on  the 
essential  facts  as  to  the  limits  of  human 
attention,  together  with  conclusiv^e  methods 
of  tying  up  social  judgments  with  current 
social  facts  and  forces. 

Clyde  L.  King. 

G.  Stanley  Hall,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.  Sene- 
scence.  Pp.  xxvi,  518.  Price,  $5.00. 
New  York:  D.  Appleton  and  Company, 
19^22. 

Tlie  modern  intellectual  world  is  becom- 
ing more  and  more  insistent  in  its  demands 
for  facts  to  substantiate  any  theory  which 
attempts  to  explain  the  controversial  ques- 
tions confronting  mankind.  Certainly  tlie 


problems  of  old  age  and  death  are  prodigious 
enough  even  in  our  day  to  call  forth  the  most 
Herculean  of  mental  efforts  to  establish 
conviction.     "The  Thinker"  who  would 
probe  into  this  subject  from  every  view 
point  should  be  more  than  scholar;  he  must 
himself  have  lived  riclily  through  a  wide 
span  of  years  in  order  to  appreciate  the 
feelings,  aspirations,  disai)pointments  and 
philosophies  of   those   who  have  spoken. 
Certainly,  the  mental  processes  as  well  as 
spiritual   insight  of  those  who  are  older 
becomes  of  vital  significance  in  giving  j)er- 
spective  to  human  values.     So  much  our 
present-day   middle-age  groiq)  should   be 
willing  to  concede  to  those  older  scientists 
who  in  their  younger  days  struggled  heroi- 
cally with  newer  evolving  scientific  concepts 
often  under  the  most  critical  and  adverse 
of  conditions.    In  their  older  days  these 
stalwarts  are  bringing  each,  not  his  science 
only,    but    all    science    into    perspective. 
Analysis  is  no  more  to  vie  with  synthesis  in 
its  outlook  upon  life's  problems.     The  past 
no  longer  spurns  the  whole.    Perspective 
is  beginning  to  be  insisted  upon. 

Tlie  book  Senescence  hy  G.  Stanley  Hall, 
rich  in  scholarship  and  personal  experience, 
is  a  comprehensive  review  of  the  sum  of 
human  knowledge  on  this  subject,  "in  order 
to  show  how  the  ignorant  and  the  learned, 
the  child,  the  adult,  and  the  old,  savage  and 
civilized  man,  pagans  and  Christians,  the 
ancient  and  the  modem  world,  the  represen- 
tatives of  the  various  sciences  and  different 
individuals,  have  viewed  these  problems." 
The  chief  thesis  of  his  book  is  that  old  age 
has  a  function  in  the  world  that  we  who  are 
older  have  not  yet  risen  to  and  which  is  of 
the  utmost  importance.  Far  greater,  in  fact, 
in  the  present  stage  of  the  world  than  ever 
before,  and  "that  this  new  and  culminating 
service  can  only  be  seen  and  prepared  for  by 
first  realizing  what  ripe  and  normal  age 
really  is,  means,  can,  should  and  now  must 
do,  if  our  race  is  ever  to  achieve  its  true 
goal."    It  is  also  written  to  enable  those  of 
middle  age  and  "for  whom  the  shadows  have 
just  begun  to  lengthen"  to  be  better  fitted 
to  meet  old  age  when  it  overtakes  them. 

The  various  chapter  headings  herein  cited 
are  suggestive  of  the  exhaustless  scientific 
method  employed  in  getting  at  the  concepts 
underlying  his  treatise:  "The  History  of 
Old   Age;"   "Literature   By   and   On   the 


., 


V 


i. 


Book  Department 


155 


Aged;"  "  Statistics  of  Old  Ageand  Its  Care;" 
"Medical  Views  and  Treatment  of  Old 
Age;"  "The  Contributions  of  Biology  and 
Physiology."  In  "The  Youth  of  Old  Age " 
is  developed  the  psychology  involved  at  the 
turn  of  the  tide  of  life.  Special  stress  is  laid 
upon  the  importance  of  work  accomplished 
before  and  after  forty. 

The  functioning  process  of  old  minds  with 
their  possible  good  as  well  as  evil  influence 
upon  world-wide  questions  of  political  and 
economic  significance,  is  illustrative  of  many 
other  paragraphs  than  the  one  cited. 

The  World  War  was  not  primarily  a  young 
man's  war,  for  most  of  them  were  sent  by  their 
elders  and  met  their  death  that  the  influence  of 
the  latter  might  be  augmented.  Men  may  be 
made  senile  by  their  years  without  growing  wise. 
Thus  the  world  is  without  true  leaders  in  this  hour 
of  its  greatest  need  till  we  wonder  whether  a  few 
score  funerals  of  those  in  power  would  not  be  our 
greatest  boon.  A  psychological  senility  that 
neither  learns  nor  forgets  is  always  a  menace  and 
a  check  instead  of  being,  as  true  old  age  should 
be,  a  guide  in  emergencies.  Thus  we  have  not 
jirown  old  aright  and  are  paralyzed  by  a  wisdom 
that  is  obsolete  or  barnacled  by  prejudice. 

V  The  thoughts  which  the  earnest  reader 
of  this  book  will  carry  away  is  the  necessity 
of  a  philosophical  type  of  thinking  which 
should  pervade  the  solution  of  individual 
and  national  problems.  Old  age  becomes 
philosophical  in  a  masterly  sense  if  the  re- 
capitulatory processes  of  individual  unfold- 
ment  have  been  orderly  and  expressive. 
Hope  for  the  orderly  and  wise  administra- 
tion of  life's  affairs  rests  upon  the  ability  of 


society  to  utilize  the  richness  of  individual 
consciousness  which  the  changing  years 
divest.  All  students  of  human  nature  will 
feel  that  this  text  is  the  gift  of  a  mature 
mind  to  those  who  would  struggle  wisely  to 
meet  the  problems  of  advancing  age. 

Herbert  W.  Hess. 


Tumulty,  Joseph  P.  Woodrow  Wilson  as 
I  Know  Him.  Pp.  xvi,  553.  Price, 
$5.00.  Garden  City,  New  York :  Double- 
day  Page  and  Company,  1921. 

This  is  an  enticing  account  in  story  form 
of  the  relations  between  Joseph  P.  Tumulty 
and  his  hero  statesman,  Woodrow  Wilson. 
As  a  first  hand  account  of  many  of  the 
stirring  events  of  the  past  fifteen  years  this 
book  is  of  inestimable  value.  Among  the 
chapters  of  special  historic  interest  are  those 
devoted  to:  "Colonel  Roosevelt  and  Gen- 
eral Wood;"  "Wilson  the  Warrior;"  "Ger- 
many Capitulates;"  "The  Treaty  Fight;" 
"The  Western  Trip;"  "Reservations."  The 
chapter  that  will  live  long  is  the  one  on 
"Wilson,  The  Human  Being." 

The  historian  of  the  future  will  no  doubt 
give  to  Woodrow  Wilson  a  rank  as  states- 
man equal  to  that  of  the  greatest  statesmen 
of  all  times.  If  this  be  done,  then  his  oppo- 
nents must  be  pictured  as  bickering  parti- 
sans, narrow  of  vision  and  uninformed  as  to 
the  true  economic  and  social  forces  at  work 
in  the  modern  world.  This  book  will  prove 
useful  as  a  current  portrayal  of  pertinent 
human  facts  and  sentiments. 


^> 


Index 


Adjustment,  2,  130-1.     See  Agreements. 

Afterword,  Summary  and.  John  A.  Ryan,  F. 
Ernest  Johnson,  141-3. 

Agreement  Between  Employer  and  Em- 
ployees, The  Trade.    John  P.  Frey,  22-6. 

Bargaining,  collective,  in  men's  clothing  indus- 
try, 30. 

Agreements  in  Men's  Clothing  Industry, 
Collective.    W.  E.  Hotchkiss,  27-33. 

American  Federation  of  Labor,  9. 

Arbitration,  2,  23,  130. 

Australia:  industrial  relations  of,  23. 

Austria:  employee  representation  in,  37. 

\  Bagehot,  Walter,  49. 

Berlin  Conference  (Y.  W.  C.  A.),  138. 
Bible  classes,  men's:  work  of,  119. 
Book  Department,  144-55. 
Business   organizations:    relation   to    industrial 
conflict,  11. 

Callah.\n,  p.  H.  An  Employer's  View  of  the 
Church's  Function  in  Industry,  105-7. 

Capital  and  industrial  conflict,  1. 

Catholic  Bishops'  Program  of  Reconstruction, 
111,  130-2. 
V  Catholic   Church,   The   Teaching    of    the. 
John  A.  Ryan,  76-80. 

Catholic  Welfare  Council,  The  Program 
and  Activities  of  the  National.  R.  A. 
McGowan,  130-3. 

Child  labor,  60-4.     Supreme  court  and,  60. 

Child-labor  laws:  in  Mississippi,  61;  in  New 
York,  62;  in  Ohio,  61;  in  Oregon,  61;  in 
Washington,  61;  need  of  federal,  60. 

Christian  spirit,  5. 

Church's  Function  in  Industry,  A  Church- 
man's View  of  the.  Frederic  Cook  Moor- 
house,  90-5. 

Church's  Function  in  Industry,  A  Church- 
man's View  of  the.    Harry  F.  Ward,  96-100. 

Church's   Function   in   Industry,    An   Em- 
j^  ployer's  View  of  the.  P.  H.  Callahan,  105-7. 

Church's  Function  in  Industry,  An  Em- 
ployer's View  of  the.    John  J.  Eagen,  101-4. 

Church's  Function  in  Industry,  Labor's 
View  of  the.    A.  J.  Muste,  112-6. 

Church's  Function  in  Industry,  Labor's 
View  of  the.    John  A.  Voll,  108-11. 

Church,  the:  activity  of,  108-9;  as  teacher,  93, 
96-8,  101-2,  107;  authority  of,  98. 

Churchman's  View  of  the  Church's  Function 
IN  Industry,  A.     Frederic  Cook  Moorhouse, 
90-5. 
A  Churchman's  View  of  the  Church's  Function 

in  Industry,  A.     Harry  F.  Ward,  96-100. 


Church's  Ministry  to  Workers,  The.  G.  S. 
Lackland,  117-21. 

Citizens,  private:  relation  to  industrial  conflict, 
15. 

Citizen  committees,  12-3. 

Cleveland  Convention  (Y.  W.  C.  A.),  140. 

Clothing  Industry,  Collective  Agreements 
in  Men's.    W.  E.  Hotchkiss,  27-33. 

Community,  The  Employers'  Responsibility 
TO  the.     Sam  A.  Lewisohn,  65-9. 

Community,  Industrial  Conflict  .vnd  the 
Local.     Edward  T.  Devine,  8-15. 

Community,  Labor's  Responsibility  to  the. 
Joseph  Husslein,  70-5. 

Community  building,  66-7. 

Community  Problem,  Industrial  Conditions 
AS  A.     Florence  Kelley,  60-4. 

Cooperation:  between  labor,  capital  and  manage- 
ment, 50,  74-5;  between  religious  organiza- 
tions, 127-8;  between  Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  indus- 
try, 135-7. 

Courts  and  industrial  conflict,  the,  8-10. 

Creed,  Social  of  Protestant  Churches,  81,  126-7. 

Crisis,  Judaism  and  the  Industrial.  Sidney 
E.  Goldstein,  86-9. 

Czecho-SIovakia :  employee  representation  in,  37. 

Dean,  Richmond.     Properly  from  a  Christian 

Standpoint,  55-7. 
Democratic  industrial  order:  progress  toward  a, 

141-3. 
Dentstison,  Henry  S.     An  Employer's  View  of 

Property,  58-9. 
Denver  Trades  and  Labor  Assembly:  resolution 

of,  120. 
Devine,  Edward  T.     Industrial  Conflict  and 

the  Local  Community,  8-15. 
Diagnosis,  The  Moral.     Wm.  J.  Kerby,  1-7. 

Eagen,  John  J.     An  Employer's  View  of  the 

Church's  Function  in  Relation  to  Industry, 

101-4. 
Economic     Theory,     Social     Concepts     in. 

Samuel  McCune  Lindsay,  49-54. 
Employee   Representation.     Walter   Gordon 

Merritt,  34-9. 
Employers'  Responsibility  to  the  Commtnity, 

The.     Sam  A.  Lewisohn,  65-9. 
Employer's  View  of  Property,  An.     Henry  S. 

Dennison,  58-9. 
Employer's  View  of  the  Church's  Function 

IN  Industry,  An.     P.  IL  Callahan,  105-7. 
Employer's  View  of  the  Church's  Function 

IN   Relation    to    Industry,    An.    John   J. 

Eagen,  101-4. 
England:   church  activity   in,   84-5;  employee 


157 


158 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


Index 


150 


3"^ 


representation  in,  37;  teaching  of  the  World 
War  in  schools  of,  14-5. 
Ethical  standards,  establishment  of,  114-6. 

Factory  Acts,  49. 

Facts:  publishing  of,  113-6. 

Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 

America,  126-9,  133. 
Foundary  Codes,  25-6. 
France:  the  teaching  of  the  World  War  in  the 

schools  of,  14-5. 
Frey,  John  P.     The  Trade  Agreement  Between 

P^raployer  and  Employees,  22-6. 
Function  of  the  Church  in  Industry,  The. 

Harry  F.  Ward,  96-100. 

Germany:  employee  representation  in,  37;  teach- 
ing of  the  World  War  in  the  schools  of,  14-5. 

God's  word:  proclaiming  of,  101;  practicing  of, 
102-4. 

Guilds,  me<lieval:  131-2;  application  of  principles 
to  industrial  problems  today,  71,  131-2;  prin- 
ciples of  the,  70-1,  75. 

Hard  times:  provision  for,  5-6. 

Hart  Schaffner  &  Marx,  firm  of,  27-8. 

Hillman,  Sidney,  27. 

Hotchkiss,  W.  E.     Collective  Agreements  in 

Men's  Clothing  Industry,  27-33. 
Hot  Springs  Convention  (Y.  W.  C.  A.),  140. 
Howard,  Dr.  Earl  Dean,  27. 
HussLEiN,  Joseph.     Labor's  Responsibility  to 

the  Community,  70-5. 

Indianapolis  Convention  (Y.  W.  C.  A.),  139. 
Individualism:  protestant,  82. 
Industrial     Conditions     as    a     Community 
Problem.     Florence  Kelley,  60-4. 

INDUSTRLA.L    CONFLICT,     ThE    StATE    AND.      W. 

Jett  Lauck,  16-21. 

Industrial  Conflict  and  the  Local  Com- 
munity.    Edward  T.  Devine,  8-15. 

Ixdustrla.l  Disputes,  Mor.\l  Influence  in 
the  Adjustment  of.     Basil  M.  Manly,  40-4. 

Industrl\l  Progr.vm  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
Charles  R.  Towson,  134-7. 

Industrial  Program  of  the  Y.  W.  C.  A. 
Florence  Simms,  138-40. 

Industry  as  a  Service.     Fred  J.  Miller,  45-8. 

International  Molders*  Union,  24-5. 

Jewish  Church,  the  teaching  of  the.  See  Juda- 
ism and  the  Industrial  Crisis. 

Johnson,  F.  Ernest.  The  Teaching  of  the 
Protestant  Church,  81-5;  Summary  and 
Afterword,  141-3. 

Joint  Committee  Plan,  35. 

Kansas:  industrial  relations  of,  23. 
Kansas  Court  of  Industrial  Relations,  16. 
Kelley,  Florence.    Industrial  Conditions  as  a 


Community  Problem  with  Particular  Refer- 
ence to  Child  Labor,  60-4. 

Kenyon  Bill,  19-20. 

Kerry,  William  J.    The  Moral  Diagnosis,  1-7. 

Labor:  demands   of,    72-3;    organizations,    11; 

part  in  industrial  conflict,  72-5;  responsibilities 

of,  11;  solidarity,  2,     See  also  employee,  trade 

councils,  unions,  works  council. 
Labor's  Responsibility  to  the  Community. 

Joseph  Husslein,  70-5. 
Labor's  View  of  the  Church's  Function  with 

Regard  to  Industrl\l  Rel,\tions.    John  A. 

Voll,  108-11. 
Labor's  View  of  the  Function  of  the  Church. 

A.  J.  Muste,  112-6. 
Lackland,  G.  S.     The  Church's  Ministry  to 

Workers,  117-21. 
Lauck,   W.  Jett.    The  State  and   Industrial 

Conflict,  16-21. 
Leadership  of  industrial  conflict,  3. 
Lewisohn,  Sam  A.     The  Employers'  Responsi- 
bility to  the  Community,  65-9, 
Liberty:  industrial,  6. 
Lindsay,  Samuel  McCl^ne.     Social  Concepts 

in  Economic  Theorv,  49-54. 
Luxemburg:  employee  representation  in,  37. 

Manitoba:  employee  representation  in,  37. 

Manufacturers'  organizations  in  men's  clothing 
industry,  32. 

McGowAN,  R.  A.  The  Program  and  Activities 
of  the  National  Catholic  Welfare  Council, 
130-3. 

Manly,  Basil  M.  Moral  Influence  in  the  Ad- 
justment of  Industrial  Disputes,  40-4. 

Marshall,  Alfred,  49. 

Martineau,  Harriet,  49. 

Merritt,  Walter  Gordon,  Employee  Repre- 
sentation, 34-9. 

Mill,  John  Stuart,  50. 

Miller,  Fred  J.     Industry  as  a  Service,  45-8. 

Mitchell,  John,  1. 

MooRHOUSE,  Frederic  Cook.  A  Churchman's 
View  of  the  Church's  Function,  90-5. 

Moral  aspect  of  industry,  93-4;  10.5-6. 

Moral  Diagnosis,  The.  William  J.  Kerby, 
1-7. 

Moral  Influence  in  the  Adjustment  of  In- 
dustrial Disputes.     Basil  M.  Manly,  40-4. 

Morrison,  Frank,  120. 

Muste,  A.  J.  Labor's  View  of  the  Function  of 
the  Church,  112-6. 

New  Jersey  State  Chamber  of  Commerce,  11. 
New  York  State  Industrial  Commission,  62. 
New  Zealand:  industrial  relations  of,  23. 
Norway:  employee  representation  in,  37. 

O'Hara,  Edwtn  V.  The  Pastor  and  the  Work- 
ingmen  of  His  Parish,  122-4. 


^r 


X 


Open  Forum  Movement,  118. 

Open  Shop  Movement:  120;  Pastoral  Letter  on, 

125. 
Ownership:  common,  88-9. 

Pastor:  the  duty  of  the,  122-4. 

Pastor  and  the  Workingmen  of  His  Parish, 

The.     Edwin  V.  O'Hara,  122-4. 
Pastoral  Letter  of  the  American  Hierarchy,  130. 
Peace:  industrial,  53,  130. 
Plumb  Plan  for  railway  nationalization,  18. 
Police  departments:  relation  to  industrial  con- 
flict, 10-1. 
Policy    and    Program    of   the    Protestant 

Churches,     Worth  M.  Tippy,  125-9. 
Pope  Leo  XIII:  encyclical  of,  77-80,  106,  108, 

122-3,  132. 
Press:  relation  to  industrial  conflict,  13-4. 
Production:  elements  necessary  to,  55-6. 
Profit:  supreme  motive  in  industrial  conflict,  5, 
Program  and  Activities  of  the  National 

Catholic  Welfare  Council,  The.    R.  A, 

McGowan,  130-3, 
Property,  An  Employer's  View  of.    Henry 

S,  Dennison,  58-9. 
Property    from    a    Christian    Standpoint. 

Richmond  Dean,  55-7. 
Protestant  Churches,  Policy  and  Program 

OF  the.    Worth  M.  Tippy,  125-9, 
Protestant  Church,  The  Teaching  of  the, 
►     F,  Ernest  Johnson,  81-5, 
Public  opinion:  relation  to  industrial  conflict, 

15,  43, 

Representation,  Employee,    Walter  Gordon 

Merritt,  34-9, 
Representation,  employee:  collective,  in  men's 

clothing  industry,  30;  growth  in  the  United 

States,  36-7;  international  aspect  of,  37-8. 
Responsibility;  collective,  53;  community,  71-5; 

personal,  92-3. 
Rights:  political,  of  individual,  68;  respect  for 

individual,  67. 
Rowntree,  Seebohm,  104. 
Russell  Sage  Foundation,  94, 
Russia:  industrial  relations  of,  23,  38, 
Ryan,  John  A,    The  Teaching  of  the  Catholic 

Church,    76-80;    Summary    and    Afterword, 

141-3, 

Schaffner,  Joseph,  27, 

Schools:  relation  to  industrial  conflict,  14-5, 
Service,  Industry  as  a.     Fred  J,  Miller,  45-8, 
Service,  public:  desire  to  render,  47-8;  obscuring 
the  idea  of,  46-7;  of  primitive  people,  45;  ren- 
dering, 58-9,  65-6, 
Simms,  Florence.     Industrial  Program  of  the 

Y.W.C.A.,  138-40. 
Social  Concepts  in  Economic  Theory.    Sam- 
uel McCune  Lindsay,  49-54. 


Social  legislation,  3,  131. 

Soldiers.     See  police  departments. 

Sonneborn,  Henry,  and  Company,  28. 

Standard  of  living:  51-3. 

State   and   Industrial  Conflict,   The.    W. 

Jett  Lauck,  16-21. 
Stove  Founders'  National  Defense  Association, 

24-5. 
Strikes:  cause  for,  73-4;  coal  strike,  133;  Denver 

street-car   strike,    133;    management   of,    23; 

steel  strike,  48.    See  citizen  committees,  courts, 

police  departments. 
Summary  and  Afterword.    John  A.  Ryan,  F. 

Ernest  Johnson,  141-3. 
Supreme  Court,  United  States,  9. 

Teaching   of   the    Catholic:    Church,    The. 

John  A.  Ryan,  76-80. 
Teaching  of  the  Protestant  Church,  The. 

F,  Ernest  Johnston,  81-5. 
Tippy,  Worth  M.    Policy  and  Program  of  the 

Protestant  Church,  125-9. 
Towson,  Charles  R.     Industrial  Program  of 

the  Y.  M,  C,  a.,  134-7. 
Trade  Agreement  Between  Employers  and 

Employees,  The.    John  P,  Frey,  22-6, 
Trades  Councils,  11-2, 

Unions:  leaders  of,  74;  right  to  organize,  130. 
United  Mine  Workers,  1 . 
United  States:  activity  of  churches  in,  84-6. 
United  States  Chamber  of  Conmierce,  18. 
United  States  Railroad  Labor  Board,  16. 

Voll,  John  A.  Labor's  View  of  the  Church's 
Function  with  Regard  to  Industrial  Relations, 
108-11. 

War  Labor  Board,  The,  41-3,  130. 

Ward,  Harry  F.    The  Function  of  the  Church 

in  Industry,  96-100. 
Washington  Conference  (Y.  W.  C.  A.),  140, 
Weill,  Samuel,  president  of  the  Stein-Bloch  Com- 
pany, 28, 
Williams,  John  E.,  27, 
Workers,     The     Church's     Ministry     to. 

George  S,  Lackland,  117-21, 
Workingmen,  The  Pastor  and  the,     Edwin 

V,  O'Hara,  122-4. 
Works  councils:  131;  effect  of  the  World  War  on, 

35;  international  aspect  of,  37;  moral  and  cooj)- 

erative  aspect  of,  38. 
World  War  and  political  democracy,  17;  taught 

in  European  schools,  14-5, 

Y,  M.  C.  A.,  Industrial  Program  of,  Charles 
R,  Towson,  134-7, 

Y,  W,  C,  A,,  Industrial  Program  of,  Florence 
Simms,  138-40. 

Y.  W,  C,  A.:  conventions  of,  138-40;  develop- 
ment of  membership  in,  189-40. 


y 


\ 


A  STUDY  IN  LABOR  MOBILITY 


\ 


A 


BY 


The  Industrial  Research  Department 

Wharton  School  of  Finance  and  Commerce 

University'  of  Pennsylvania 


I 


V 


Anne  Bezanson 
France  Chalufour 


Joseph  Willits 
Leda  White 


>'- 


12 


VJ 


i 


n 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

Need  for  Personnel  Research. 

Scope  and  Aim  of  the  Industrial  Research  Department. 

PART  I 

I.  Reasons  for  Selection  of  the  Labor  Turnover  Study. 

II.  Standardization  of  Methods  of  Collection, 

III.  Suggestions  for  Greater  Uniformity  in  the  Study  of  Labor  Turnover, 

IV.  Discussion  of  Grouping  of  Major  Classifications. 


Jt 


PART  II 


I. 

II. 
III. 
IV. 

V. 


Production  Conditions. 

Monthly  and  Quarterly  Comparison  of  Annual  Turnover  Rates  with  and  without  Lay  Offs. 
Resignations,  Discharges  and  Lay  OflFs. 
Major  Reasons  for  Resignations. 
Discussion  of  Turnover  by  Length  of  Service. 
VI.  Summary  Monthly  Comparisons  for  Ten  Firms,  January,  1921- June,  1922. 
VII.  Labor  Mobility  in  Public  and  Private  Employment. 
VIII.  Conclusions.  , 

INDEX 


^) 


Index  of  Charts  and  Tables 


Chart  I.  Index  of  number  employed.  Base, 
January  1921.    Firms  1-2-3-11.    p.  185 

Table  1.  Turnover  Percentage  less  Lay  Offs. 
Nineteen  Firms.  January  1921-June  1922. 
p.  189 

Chart  11.  Annual  Turnover  Percentage.  Janu- 
ary 1921-June  1922. 

Annual  Turnover  and  Turnover  less  Lay  Offs. 
Firms  1-2-8-11.     p.  191 

Chart  III.  Turnover  Percentage  less  Lay  Offs. 
Firms  15-6-16-4-17-8-9.     p.  192 

Chart  IV.  Turnover  Percentage  less  Lay  Offs. 
Firms  7-10-24  a.rid  combined  ten  firms,   p.  193 

Chart  V.  Total  Turnover  Percentage.  Firms 
1-2-3-11.     p.  194 

Chart  VI.  Turnover  Percentage  less  Lay  Offs. 
Firms  1-2-3-11.     p.  195 

Table  2.  Turnover  less  Lay  Offs.  Percentages. 
Nineteen  Firms.  January  1921-June  1922. 
p.  196 

Table  3.  Resignation  Turnover  Percentages. 
Nineteen  Firms.  January  1921-June  1922. 
p.  198 

Table  4.  Discharge  Turnover  Percentages.  Nine- 
teen Firms.    January  1921-June  1922.  p.  199 

Table  5.  Resignation  Turnover  Quarterly  Per- 
centages. Nineteen  Firms.  January  1921- 
June  1922.     p.  202 

Table  6.  Annual  Turnover  Percentage  by  Major 
Reasons.     Eleven  Firms.     1921.     p.  203 

Table  7.  Percentages  of  Exits  by  Major  Reasons. 
Eleven  Firms.     1921.     p.  204 

Chart  VII.  Quarterly  Percentage  of  Exits  by 
Main  Divisions  of  Turnover.  1922.  Nine- 
teen Firms,     p.  201 

Table  8.  Group  of  Eleven  Firms.  Total  Turn- 
over of  Exits.  Major  Reasons  for  Leaving. 
January  1921-June  1922.    p.  209 


Chart  VIII.  Percentage  of  Exits  by  Major  Rea- 
sons.    1921.    Firms  24-8-2-1-11-15.    p.  207 

Chart  IX.  Percentage  of  Exits  by  Major  Rea- 
sons.    1922.     Firms  24-8-2-1-11-15.     p.  208 

Table  9.  Length  of  Service  of  Exits.  Percentage 
of  Total  Exits.    Firms  land  2.     1921.     p.  211 

Table  10.  Length  of  Service  of  Exits.  Percent- 
age of  Total  Exits.  Firms  6  and  8.  1921. 
p.  213 

Table  11.  Length  of  Service  of  Exits.  Percent- 
age of  Total  Exits.  Firms  10  and  15.  1921. 
p.  214 

Table  12.  Length  of  Service  of  Exits.  Percent- 
age of  Total  Exits.    Fu-m  24.     1921.     p.  214 

Chart  X.  length  of  Service.  Cumulative  Per- 
centage Curves.  Firms  6-8-15-1-2-10-24. 
p.  212 

Chart  XL  Comparison.  Length  of  Service  by 
Major  Reasons.  Cumulative  Percentage 
Curves.  Working  Conditions.  Wages.  La- 
borers.    Work  elsewhere,     p.  215 

Chart   XII.  Combined    Length    of   Service    of 
Exits.    Seven    Firms.    Total    Exits.     Resig- 
nations.   Discharges.    Lay  Offs.    p.  216 
Table  13.  Total  Payroll,  Absolute  Figures  and 
Turnover  Percentages  of  Main  Divisions  of 
Exits,  Ten  Firms.    January  1921-June  1922. 
p.  218 
Chart  XIII.  Comparison  of  Public  and  Private 
Employment.     Total  Turnover  and  Turnover 
less  Lay  Offs,  Resignations  and  Discharges, 
p.  219 
Table  14.  Departments  of  the  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania.   Labor   Turnover   Report.    January- 
December  1921.    p.  220 
Table  15.  Pennsylvania    State    Highway    and 
State  Police.     1921  Labor  Turnover  Report 
Percentages,    p.  221 
Table  16.  Length  of  Service  of  Pennsylvania 
Public  Service  and  State  Police,    p.  222 


163 


PREFACE 

THE  Department  of  Industrial  Research  of  the  Wharton 
School  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  exists  by  the 
aid  of  the  Carnegie  Corporation  and  a  number  of  interested 
individuals  and  firms.  With  the  cooperation  of  members  of 
the  Philadelphia  Industrial  Association  and  other  members 
of  the  industrial  community,  the  Department  seeks  to  give 
practical  response  to  the  need  for  local  units  for  coordinating 
industrial  research  in  the  more  important  centers  of  population. 

As  such  a  unit  it  makes  progressive  studies  that  will  rep- 
resent continuous  cross-sections  of  one  industrial  community. 
These  studies  should  in  time  contribute  information  of  value 
to  students  of  general  economic  and  industrial  problems.  They 
may  have  value  to  the  immediate  community  and  to  teachers 
of  industrial  subjects  by  supplying  facts  on  which  construc- 
tive programs  may  be  based  as  well  as  by  indicating  com- 
munity conditions  and  tendencies. 

This  account  is  submitted  as  a  more  extended  statement  of 
scope  and  purpose  and  as  a  preliminary  discussion  of  one  of 
the  studies  now  in  progress.  This  study  has  been  made  and 
the  report  prepared  under  the  immediate  direction  of  Miss 
Anne  Bezanson. 

Joseph  H.  Willits. 


104 


X 


FOREWORD 

IN  publishing  this  study  no  claim  is  made  for  original  methods 
or  conclusions.  For  a  decade  industrial  managers  have  rec- 
ognized the  place  of  the  analysis  of  labor  turnover  in  their 
own  plants;  this  study  aims  to  show  the  still  larger  place  for 
this  control  in  a  community  labor  market.  Numerous  inquir- 
ies from  industrial  educators,  students,  employment  execu- 
tives and  research  associations  influenced  the  department  in 
presenting  at  once  even  an  incomplete  study  with  a  statement 
of  the  research  program. 

To  all  members  of  the  Philadelphia  Industrial  Association 
indebtedness  is  acknowledged  for  cooperation  in  the  various 
studies  started  throughout  the  year.  For  careful  reporting  in 
connection  with  this  study  especial  obligation  is  acknowledged 
to  a  group  of  25  firms,  some  of  whose  names  are  withheld, 
owing  to  the  absence  of  several  executives.  Other  firms  co- 
operating are :  Aberf oyle  Manufacturing  Company;  American 
Pulley  Company;  Barrett  Company;  A.  M.  Collins  Company; 
Chalfonte-Haddon  Hall;  Hess-Bright  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany;  John  T.  Lewis  &  Brothers  Company;  Miller  Lock  Com- 
pany ;  New  York  Shipbuilding  Corporation;  Notaseme  Hosiery- 
Company;  Fayette  R.  Plumb,  Incorporated;  Sears,  Roebuck 
and  Company;  John  B.  Stetson  Company;  Stokes  and  Smith 
Company ;  United  Gas  Improvement  Company ;  Westinghouse 
Electric  &  Manufacturing  Company;  S.  S.  White  Dental  Man- 
ufacturing Company. 

Individual  credit  is  due  to  Mr.  Paul  Gendell  and  Mr.  Ros- 
well  Henninger,  who  have  served  as  chairmen  for  the  Research 
Committees. 

The  Department  is  indebted  to  all  members  of  the  research 
staff,  especially  to  Helen  Opp  and  Elizabeth  Lundy  for  com- 
putations; to  Marjorie  Crossingham,  Harold  Denison  and 
Paula  Zeisse  in  preparing  charts  and  tables;  for  great  aid  in 
revising  the  manuscript  to  Miriam  Hussey. 


Anne  Bezanson. 
France  Chalufour. 


Joseph   Willits. 
Leda  White. 


165 


INTRODUCTION 


AT  the  beginning  of  March,  1921, 
the  Industrial  Research  Depart- 
ment at  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania began  active  work.     The  initial 
organization  was  made  possible  by  the 
cooperation  of  the  Carnegie  Corpora- 
tion.    Especially  encouraging  was  the 
understanding  of  Dr.  J.  R.  Angell  and 
Dr.  Beardsley  Ruml  in  foreseeing  the 
growing  need  for  definite  coordination 
between    education    and    industry    in 
research    work.     In    Philadelphia    a 
small  group  of  employers  were  inter- 
ested by  reason  of  long  contact  with 
the  Department   of  Industry  of  the 
University.     There  was,  besides,  the 
Philadelphia     Industrial     Association 
group,  among    whose    members  were 
plant     executives     and     employment 
managers  ready  to  voice  the  need  for 
careful  analysis  of  many  matters  fre- 
quently discussed  in  the  past  years  of 
employment     adjustments.     The    in- 
terest and  advice  of  members  of  The 
Scott  Company,  notably  that  of  Mr. 
L.  B.  Hopkins,  was  invaluable  in  the 
six  months  of  planning  preceding  the 
actual  starting  of  the  Department. 

Need  for  Industrial  Research 

The  Industrial  Research  Depart- 
ment grew  out  of  the  need  for  careful 
study  of  some  of  the  problems  of  per- 
sonnel— a  need  felt  both  by  industrial 
concerns  and  educational  institutions. 
For  a  decade  before  the  War,  many 
individual  firms  in  widely  scattered 
industrial  centers,  in  the  United  States 
and  Europe,  had  experimented  with 
the  centralization  of  certain  functions 
relating  to  the  selection,  training,  and 
follow-up  of  the  employees.  These 
activities  tended  to  run  to  peaks 
according  to  the  needs  of  the  organiza- 
tion or  the  individual  manager's  con- 


ception of  his  obligation  to  his  em- 
ployees. The  war  activity  and  the 
shortage  of  labor  hastened  the  starting 
of  new  departments,  which  in  the 
main  tended  to  copy  organization  and 
methods  as  worked  out  by  early  ex- 
perimenters. During  the  War  im- 
mediate matters  of  production  were 
so  pressing  that  no  time  was  available 
for  detailed  study,  however  valuable 
the  conclusions  might  be  in  the  long 
run.  The  very  pressure  of  the  war 
production  situation  had,  however, 
stimulated  discussion  and  furthered 
the  pooling  of  information.  Employ- 
ment Managers'  Associations  were 
organized  in  local  areas  where  execu- 
tives interested  in  labor  problems  met 
regularly  to  exchange  experiences. 
Much  of  value  and  inspiration  was 
brought  out  in  these  discussions.  As 
time  went  on,  however,  there  was 
needed  some  sifting  of  the  worth  of 
experiences,  some  analysis  of  the 
comparability  of  the  conditions  and 
methods,  and  some  conclusions  as  to 
what  things  had  been  established  by 
the  cumulative  experiences  of  every 
one. 

At  the  close  of  the  W^ar  a  different 
method  of  approach  and  a  new  type 
of  experience  was  brought  to  the  prob- 
lem by  men  connected  with  the  work 
of  the  army.  Psychologists,  physi- 
cians, and  prominent  employment 
executives  had  together  apphed  to  the 
classification  of  army  personnel  meth- 
ods already  tried  out  in  industry. 
The  new  application  brought  changes 
and  development  in  the  old  systems. 
A  new  technique  resulted,  new  meth- 
ods and  a  broader  understanding  of 
the  scope  of  the  problem  pointed  to 
the  possibility  of  a  wide  use  of  some  of 
the  altered  methods  in  industry.    No 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


167 


v> 


166 


en  masse  application  of  methods  was 
possible.  Everyone  realized  how  dif- 
ferent was  the  problem  of  stability 
in  an  industrial  plant.  The  army 
method  of  attack  had  to  be  modified 
and  experiences  checked  until  new 
and  more  complete  data  could  be 
secured.  Again  came  a  new  period  of 
experimentation  with  more  technical 
methods  in  a  new  phase  of  the  problem 
— a  problem  made  unusually  complex 
by  the  expansion  of  industry  and  the 
post-war  adjustments. 

The  need  for  authoritative  data  was 
equally  apparent  before  further  steps 
could  be  taken  in  the  teaching  of  the 
technique  of  personnel.  A.  very  few 
courses  in  Employment  Management 
were  undertaken  in  University  depart- 
ments. Short  courses  were  started 
by  the  War  Department  and  sup- 
plemented by  longer  courses  in  edu- 
cational institutions.  These  are  still 
going  on  in  coordination  with  courses 
in  industrial  management  with  some 
attempt  to  train  executives  for  per- 
sonnel positions.  Materials  available 
for  such  classes  lacked  the  comprehen- 
siveness necessary  for  clear  presenta- 
tion. The  limited  sphere  of  usefulness 
of  a  great  deal  of  personnel  research 
engaged  in  at  present,  or  in  the  past, 
is  due  to  the  isolated  character  of 
the  data;  isolated  either  because  car- 
ried on  by  a  single  business  house  with 
emphasis  upon  too  immediate  findings, 
or  because  of  a  lack  of  effective  co- 
ordination between  its  scientific  as- 
pects and  the  practices  and  policies  of 
business.  Other  difficulties  arise  from 
the  separation  of  subjects  in  educa- 
tional institutions.  Personnel  research 
involves  the  bringing  together  of  the 
findings  of  science  in  many  fields  of 
study.  These  sciences  separated  into 
departments  on  the  basis  of  materials, 
for  purposes  of  study  and  teaching, 
must  in  some  way  be  united  for  inter- 
pretation of  the  complex  factors  found 


in  modern  industrial  relations.  It  was 
to  meet  the  needs  of  both  industrial 
and  educational  groups  that  Dr.  Wil- 
lits  for  the  University  took  the  lead- 
ership in  organizing  a  department  to 
correlate  more  closely  the  work  of 
education  and  industry. 

Scope 

The  scope  of  the  Department  can 
be  as  wide  as  are  the  ramifications 
of  employees'  activities.  Two  ideals 
guide  the  Department  in  undertaking 
work.  The  first  of  these  is  to  work 
intensively,  confining  the  research 
studies  to  the  area  of  the  Philadelphia 
labor  market.  This  limitation  carries 
the  Department  into  Delaware  as  far 
as  Wilmington  and  its  environs,  across 
the  river  to  Camden  and  Collingswood 
in  New  Jersey  and  into  such  manu- 
facturing parts  of  Pennsylvania  as 
Chester,  Reading,  and  Shamokin.  The 
limitation  of  area  should  make  possible 
a  continuous  contact  with  members  as 
well  as  background  of  knowledge  con- 
cerning community  factors  which  are 
common  to  all  concerns  in  influencing 
workers.  It  is  this  knowledge  of  the 
background  of  community  factors  that 
should  in  time  make  the  work  of  the 
Department  of  greatest  value.  No- 
where before  has  there  been  an  at- 
tempt, over  a  long  period,  to  study 
seriously  the  problems  of  a  single  local 
market.  Writers  have  said  that, 
"the  state  of  employment  in  certain 
trades  is  affected  more  by  purely  local 
variations  than  by  seasonal  and  cycli- 
cal fluctuations,"  or  that,  *'even  taking 
the  labor  market  as  a  whole,  the  state 
of  employment  varies  as  piuch  from 
one  city  to  another  as  it  does  from  one 
season  to  another."^  This  would 
indicate  the  need  for  careful  study 
within  industrial  communities. 

^  Smelzer,  D.  P.,  Unemployment  and  American 
Trade  Unions^  Johns  Hopkins'  University 
Studies— Series  XXXVII.  No.  1,  1919,  p.  25. 


168 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


lii 


The  second  ideal  in  connection  with 
the  development  can  be  realized  only 
in  part,  though  it  furnishes  a  yard- 
stick to  measure  somewhat  the  De- 
partment's scope.  As  an  Educational 
Research  Department  the  material 
of  most  value  in  the  long  run  is  secured 
by  the  continuous  reporting  of  data. 
This  gives  time  for  the  standardi- 
zation of  records  and  makes  possible 
the  elimination  of  seasonal  factors  as 
well  as  the  comparison  of  results  un- 
der different  manufacturing  conditions. 
It  is  unlikely  that  anyone  could  fore- 
see in  a  single  tabulation  all  the  various 
comparisons  which  future  inquiries 
will  show  to  be  of  value.  There  ^ill 
be  available  a  body  of  data,  similar  in 
its  circumstances  of  collection,  which 
future  students  of  industry  can  re- 
analyze in  terms  of  new  problems. 
From  another  point  of  \'iew  there  is 
also  an  important  limitation  upon  the 
scope  of  the  Department.  There  will 
always  be  research  problems  of  pri- 
mary interest  to  indi\4dual  firms. 
Some  technical  matters  and  questions 
concerning  the  raw  products  of  an 
industry  can  be  better  studied  in  the 
firm  itself.  Thus  the  work  of  the 
Department  supplements  without  in 
any  way  replacing  research  carried  on 
in  the  plants. 

Even  in  personnel  matters  much 
data  is  necessary  for  information  and 
for  correlation  with  other  records  within 
the  plant,  although  some  of  this  is 
merely  of  short-run  value.  One  might 
say  that  there  are  roughly  three  t>T:)es 
of  information  and  research:  (1)  Rec- 
ords kept  purely  for  purposes  of  im- 
mediate information;  for  instance,  if 
an  employee  is  injured,  someone 
must  know  what  relative  to  notify. 
If  a  young  person  is  hired,  someone 
must  know  his  age,  purely  as  a  matter 
of  legal  record.  (2)  Other  material  is 
of  more  value  for  purposes  of  interpre- 
tation.    If  this  relates  to  the  specific 


industry,  it  might  better  be  analyzed 
and  studied  in  that  industrj\  Some 
data  may  even  be  of  technical  value 
for  the  wider  group  represented  by  the 
trade.  In  such  cases,  no  one  would 
argue  that  material  should  be  collected 
and  remain  unanalyzed.  The  bearing 
of  the  conclusions,  however,  will  be 
definite  enough  in  terms  of  the  product 
to  insure  analysis  and  summarization 
by  the  plant  or  trade  concerned. 
(3)  There  is  a  third  class  of  facts  which 
frequently  become  of  value  only  in 
terms  of  community  factors  or  of  a 
large  group  of  industrial  establish- 
ments. Perhaps  the  problem  of  the 
shifting  of  employees  from  plant  to 
plant  is  as  good  an  illustration  of  this 
sort  of  problem  as  one  can  find.  Within 
hmits  certain  analysis  can  be  made  in 
each  plant.  Yet  no  plant  exists  unto 
itself.  Its  labor  supply  is  affected  by 
community,  climatic  and  seasonal  fac- 
tors. The  data  of  a  plant  become 
valuable  in  so  far  as  the  concern  can 
avail  itself  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
effect  of  these  factors  in  other  plants. 

Difficulty  arises,  however,  whenever 
plants  begin  to  compare  with  each 
other.  Because  for  purposes  of  com- 
parison: data  at  each  plant  must 
have  been  collected  and  compiled  in 
the  same  way;  records  must  be  con- 
tinued consecutively  over  a  fairly 
long  time;  and  occupational  titles 
should  be  defined  and  used  with 
a  common  connotation.  To  make 
occupational  comparisons  valuable, 
titles  should  be  defined  carefully  and 
should  be  used  in  all  plants  in  accord- 
ance with  the  descriptions  agreed  upon. 
For  any  such  program,  there  is  needed 
a  common  clearing  house.  With  any 
start  of  common  definition  for  one 
study,  it  is  quite  possible  to  widen  the 
studies  for  which  such  standardization 
can  be  used  effectively. 

It  has  been  recognized  for  years 
that  the  most  successful  business  men 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


169 


'.    i 


^ 


are  those  who  read  correctly  "the 
signs  of  the  times"  and  determine 
policies  on  the  basis  of  facts  accurately 
collected  and  carefully  analyzed.  The 
more  expert  they  become  in  foreseeing 
the  immediate  future  by  the  immediate 
past  and  the  more  fortunate  they  are 
in  discovering  business  principles  that 
hold  good  in  the  long  run,  the  more 
certain  it  is  that  they  will  attain  suc- 
cess. What  is  only  imperfectly  recog- 
nized today,  both  by  business  men 
and  by  research  organizations,  is  the 
practical  importance  of  personnel  sta- 
tistics continuously  collected  and  sci- 
entifically analyzed  on  a  scale  too  big 
to  be  handled  by  any  one  business 
firm. 

Aim 

The  aim  of  the  Department  is  some- 
what anticipated  by  the  statement  of 
scope.  Concretely,  the  Department 
of  Industrial  Research  aims  not  only 
to  study  the  factors  of  the  Philadelphia 
labor  market  but  to  set  up  such  stand- 
ards for  the  collection  of  personnel 
statistics  as  will  make  possible  the 
continuous  compilation  of  labor  data 
in  this  community  for  such  industrial 
facts  as  experience  shows  to  be  of 
value  in  formulating  a  labor  and  pro- 
duction policy  in  the  area.  The 
matter  of  continuous  reporting  has 
already  been  stressed.  During  the 
past  year  the  problem  of  unemploy- 
ment in  Philadelphia  was  much  dis- 
cussed. Each  speaker,  according  to 
his  temperament,  guessed  how  many 
were  out  of  work  in  the  city.  Had  any 
organization  been  recording  the  num- 
ber on  the  payroll  and  the  number  of 
workers  laid  off  there  would  have  been 
some  basis,  although  inadequate,  upon 
which  to  base  plans.  The  Philadelphia 
community,  notably  the  firms  and 
educational  institutions,  should  be 
dissatisfied  with  inadequate  informa- 
tion for  dealing  with  such  a  problem  in 


a  new  crisis.  An  outstanding  problem 
of  this  character  will  get  attention 
from  many  agencies.  The  Depart- 
ment can  assist  mainly  in  supplying 
supplementary  data  collected  and  an- 
alyzed continuously.  In  the  formula- 
tion of  a  labor  policy  it  is  recognized 
that  there  is  no  possibility  of  setting 
up  a  permanent  inelastic  program. 
The  industrial  relations  problem  is  an 
ever-changing  one.  If  ship  carpenters 
are  scarce,  refusal  to  adjust  wages 
will  not  carry  employers  far,  though 
the  wage  may  have  been  considered 
adequate  in  the  past.  If  an  industry 
is  expanding,  refusal  to  permit  training, 
or  inadequate  methods  in  training,  will 
create  problems  difficult  to  adjust. 
An  open-minded  experimental  attitude 
toward  production  policies  is  needed, 
but  open-mindedness  alone  never  will 
insure  just  policies.  The  problems 
involved  are  in  part  technical.  No 
amount  of  good  intentions  will  prevent 
the  formulation  of  an  unsound  wage 
policy.  Decisions  concerning  indus- 
trial relations  can  only  be  made  on 
the  basis  of  economic  training  and 
knowledge  of  industrial  facts. 

Despite  this  very  ambitious  distant 
program,  outlined  for  the  Industrial 
Research  Department,  the  method  of 
working  involves  taking  one  simple 
problem  and  continuing  emphasis  upon 
the  study  of  that  problem,  until  the 
group  interested  in  that  problem  is 
large  enough  to  be  a  typical  statistical 
sample. 

Also  the  records  must  be  compiled 
long  enough  to  suggest  the  study  most 
likely  to  yield  the  information  missing 
for  complete  interpretation  of  the  spe- 
cial factor  being  emphasized  at  the 
time.  When  a  new  study  is  added  the 
old  one  will  be  continued.  There  will 
thus  be  built  up  a  series  of  studies  re- 
lated to  and  growing  out  of  each  other. 
Each  one  will  require  more  and  more 
careful   contact   with   the   individual 


170 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


plant.  The  continuous  widening  of 
the  scope  of  the  work  must  be  in  terms 
of  the  problems  and  needs  of  each 
plant.  If  other  educational  institu- 
tions, working  with  employment  asso- 
ciations, should  establish  similar  re- 
search organizations,  all  cooperating, 


there  would  be  built  up  an  interchange 
of  information  in  community  terms 
which,  at  crucial  times,  might  assist 
in  a  wise  choice  of  policy,  but  which 
more  than  anything  else  might  help 
in  building  up  sounder  practice  in  the 
day-by-day  industrial  relationships. 


'4i 


10 


ft 


■i 


^ 


PART  I 

I— REASON  FOR  THE  SELECTION  OF  THE  LABOR  TURNOVER 

STUDY 

I.  Labor  Turnover  a  costly  item,  171  —  Necessity  for  plants  to  analyze  labor 
mobility,  even  in  time  of  depression,  171  —  Need  of  uniform  and  continuous 
reporting,  172  —  II.  Reasons  for  leaving  classified  according  to  standard  prac- 
tice, 172  —  Sample  method  of  reporting,  173 — HI.  Definitions  of  resignations, 
discharges,  lay  offs,  174  —  List  of  classified  reasons  for  leaving,  174  —  Why 
"avoidable"  and  "unavoidable"  are  not  used,  176  —  Formula  used  for  the  uni- 
form calculation  of  turnover,  176  —  Annual  basis  preferable,  176  —  Why  exits  are 
also  analyzed  by  departments,  occupations,  length  of  service,  age,  177  —  De- 
scription of  sheet  used  for  recording  of  data,  179  —  Value  of  quarterly  and  yearly 
reports,  179  —  IV.  Discussion  of  nine  major  reasons  for  resignations,  180  — 
Reasons  show  need  of  improvements  in  plant,  181 


A  NUMBER  of  factors  influenced 
the  Department  in  selecting  Labor 
Turnover  as  its  initial  point  of  attack. 
In  the  first  place  it  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  Department  was  started 
in  the  deep  trough  of  the  depression 
period.  At  a  time  when  firms  are 
^  scanning  costs  carefully  the  expense 
of  the  mobility  of  employees  is  not  the 
most  important  item.  In  fact  the 
quitting  of  an  employee  usually  re- 
lieves someone  in  the  organization 
from  the  unpleasant  task  of  laying 
him  or  his  fellow  off.  Capital  and 
new  orders  are  for  the  time  being  the 
important  considerations.  Inevitably 
emphasis  must  be  turned  to  the  scarcest 
factor  in  the  business  situation.  Since 
this  is  not  labor,  there  will  be  a  tend- 
ency to  cut  down  the  keeping  of 
labor-department  records,  and  the 
analysis  of  such  data  will  seem  of  little 
interest.  This  management  point  of 
view  is  well  expressed  in  the  following 
quotation  from  the  letter  of  an  execu- 
tive in  a  very  cooperative  firm. 

We  have  not  been  hiring  anyone  for 
almost  two  years  and  the  folks  leaving  our 
employ  do  not  leave  because  of  any  dis- 
satisfaction either  on  their  part  or  ours. 
The  few  that  do  leave  our  employ  are 
fortunate   enough   to   secure   some   other 


work  that  for  the  time  being  pays  them 
better.  This  is  not  a  true  condition  of 
affairs.  In  fact,  I  feel  that  all  efforts  of 
comparison  at  the  present  time  are  a  waste 
of  time  and  effort. 

When  business  has  improved  sufficiently 
so  that  industrial  plants  are  building  up 
and  have  cause  to  hold  their  present  corps 
of  workers,  it  is  then  that  comparisons 
become  valuable.  If  you  could  conserve 
your  fund  until  it  would  mean  something 
to  industrial  plants,  I  believe  you  would 
have  a  great  many  interested  whom  you 
could  not  interest  today. 

Among  the  firms,  then,  there  are 
wide  gaps  likely  to  occur  in  the  record- 
ing of  data  during  a  depression  and 
still  wider  omissions  in  the  analysis 
of  records.  For  two  reasons  this  is 
unfortunate.  First,  from  the  broader 
point  of  view  of  the  control  of  business 
depressions,  information  will  be  lack- 
ing upon  which  to  base  a  control  policy. 
Second,  and  more  important,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  plant  itself  there 
will  be  no  careful  watching  of  the  shift 
in  stability  as  the  industries  begin  to 
return  to  activity.  For  instance,  the 
improved  employment  situation  in 
April  of  this  year  was  reflected  at  once 
in  every  plant  reporting  in  the  group 
by    a    marked    increase    in    turnover 


171 


172 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


among  laborers.  This  occupational 
group  alone  accounted  for  the  moving 
upward  of  the  total  turnover  at  a  time 
when  lay  offs  had  become  less  of  a 
factor. 

Conditions,  then,  inherent  in  the 
business  situation,  would  have  pointed 
to  labor  turnover  as  a  subject  likely 
to  vield  some  information  otherwise 
certain  to  be  permanently  lost.  Be- 
sides it  was  important  that  a  subject 
be  chosen  which  w  as  of  interest  to  all 
plants.  Even  when  plants  have  not 
been  able  to  provide  the  careful  inter- 
viewing and  extra  recording  which  is 
necessary  to  cooperate  directly  in  the 
turnover  study  there  has  been  much 
interest  in  the  comparisons  of  other 
firms.  It  was  then  not  only  a  subject 
known  to  every  one,  but  one  in  which 
group  comparisons  were  undoubtedly 
of  great  value. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  research 
the  interest  of  the  firms  in  the  sub- 
ject made  possible  regular  and  continu- 
ous monthly  reporting.  In  any  work 
where  standardization  is  necessary  for 
comparisons,  records  must  be  contin- 
ued for  some  time  in  order  to  make 
the  adjustments  necessary  to  secure 
uniform  data.  For  this  reason  the 
early  months  and  in  fact  the  first 
year  of  work  was  really  preliminary 


despite  the  fact  that  much  had  been 
done  in  this  field  by  previous  investi- 
gators. 

Perhaps  the  most  cogent  reason  for 
the  selection  of  this  particular  study 
was  the  fact  that  it  was  one  in  which 
firms  are  concerned  both  with  its 
immediate  computation  for  returns, 
and  with  its  long-run  trends  and 
tendencies  in  interpreting  their  own 
experience  and  in  utilizing  the  experi- 
ence of  others.  Whenever  attention 
is  directed  to  long-run  tendencies,  the 
discussion  of  a  study  inevitably  points 
to  conclusions  which  cannot  be  drawn 
owing  to  paucity  of  data  or  inability 
to  cover  the  field.  Turnover  in  itself 
is  in  many  cases  a  symptom,  not  a 
cause.  For  this  reason  the  future  of 
the  Department  will  lead  it  to  plough 
deeper  into  many  of  the  problems  now 
growing  out  of  the  turnover  approach. 
It  may  be  considered  a  tribute  to  the 
earnestness  of  the  Philadelphia  Indus- 
trial Association  Group  that  at  the 
end  of  the  first  year  of  research  they 
were  willing  to  undertake  a  study  of 
the  sources  of  labor  supply  which 
involves  knowledge  of  the  past  training 
and  experience  of  workmen  with  an 
honest  attempt  to  discover  what  the 
workman  is  himself  looking  for  as  he 
moves  from  plant  to  plant. 


II— COLLECTION  OF  DATA 


The  first  step  in  a  community  study 
of  labor  tm-nover  involved  the  issue 
of  a  bulletin  of  standard  practice  in 
classifying  reasons  for  leaving.  The 
Department  does  not  claim  credit  for 
original  methods  in  this  grouping. 
Work  already  done  by  individual  plants, 
as  well  as  by  industrial  students,  had 
been  coordinated  by  The  Scott  Com- 
pany.    To  this,  much  was  added  by 


their  group  of  technically  trained  men 
and  the  results  arranged  in  workable 
form  in  their  Day  Book  Code.  In 
adapting  this  material  to  its  needs  the 
Department  had  the  assistance  of  Mr. 
Donald  Paterson,  now  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Minnesota.  The  heartiness 
with  which  the  bulletin  has  been  ac- 
cepted in  Philadelphia  and  other  areas, 
is  due  to  Mr.  Paterson's  experience  in 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


173 


% 


^ 


avoiding  overemphasis  upon  reasons 
of  immediate  importance  at  the  ex- 
pense of  those  likely  to  appear  with 
industrial  recovery. 

Even  now,  no  finality  is  claimed  for 
the  bulletin  as  here  printed.  Slight 
modifications  have  been  made  in  it 
during  the  year  and  a  half  of  use. 
Doubtless  other  students  will  modify 
parts  of  it  still  more.  It  has  served  to 
classify  the  records  of  twenty-five 
firms,  representing  widely  different 
industries.  The  advantage  of  the 
bulletin  has  been  that  reports  from 
plants  w^ere  received  in  detail  with  an 
effort  to  retain  as  much  as  possible  of 
the  atmosphere  of  the  shop.     A  group- 


ing is  made  into  general  classes,  at  the 
same  time  that  the  shop  detail  is 
recorded  in  the  computation,  which 
goes  to  each  firm.  The  more  general 
classes  are  useful  for  comparisons  with 
other  plants.  W^hen  groupings  are 
made  in  one  plant  on  the  basis  of  its 
own  experience,  consideration  is  likely 
to  be  given  to  some  factor  important 
at  the  moment;  no  provision  is  usually 
made  for  new  reasons.  When  this 
reason  occurs  it  must  either  be  classed 
under  "miscellaneous"  or  occasion  a 
wholly  new  grouping. 

A  sample  is  here  shown  of  the  way 
in  which  raw  material  is  reported  to 
the  Department: 


CAUSES  OF 

LEAVING 

Name  or 

Race 

Depart- 

Position 

Date 

Date 

Number 

AND  Sex 

ment 

Held 

Entered 

Left 

Reason  for  Leaving 

C^ 

^F 

Janitor 

• 

RD 

V     W.Thompson.  . 

Service 

Cleaner 

5-17-21 

5-30-22 

L  M  Accident — home  bm-ned 

P  M 

RD   Did    not    feel    grinding 

J.  Doe 

F 

N.  V. 

Grinder 

5-14-22 

5-17-22 

L  M       was  his  vocation. 
RD 

M.  Smith 

F 

Engine 

Operator 

5-  1-22 

5-20-22 

L  M  Inattentive  to  her  work 
R  D   Mechanics     could     not 

L.  Allen 

^  M 

(C 

(< 

4-13-22 

5-20-22 

L  M       get  machine  fixed 
RD 

B.  Donnelly .  .  . 

^F 
^F 

«« 

Inspector 

3-30-22 

5-25-22 

L  M  Better  paying  job 

RD 
LM 

These  detailed  reasons  are  grouped  by  the  Department  according  to  instruction 
printed  in  the  following  chapter. 


Ill— SUGGESTIONS  FOR  GREATER  UNIFORMITY  IN  THE  STUDY 

OF  LABOR  TURNOVER 


ANALYSIS    OF   REASONS   FOR    LEAVING 

1.  Main  Classifications 

There  is  no  common  understanding 
of  the  meaning  of  the  terms  "Resig- 


nation," "Discharge,"  "Laid  Off," 
in  the  various  reports  studied  so  far. 
For  example  the  following  classifica- 
tions were  found  in  a  single  report 
from  one  company: 


174 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


175 


^ 


nil 


Inefficient — Discharge 
Not  Efficient— Laid  Off 
Not  Steady — Discharge 
Unsteady — Laid  Oft' 

It  is  proposed  that  all  exits  be  classi- 
fied into  one  of  the  following  three 
groups:  "Resignation,"  "Discharge," 
and  "  Laid  Off."  The  classification  of 
an  exit  into  one  of  these  three  groups 
should  be  based  on  the  following  defini- 
tions: 

A  resignation  occurs  whenever  an 
employee  terminates  his  service  with 
a  company. 

A  discharge  occurs  whenever  a  com- 
pany terminates  the  services  of  an 
employee  because  of  some  real  or 
imagined  fault  of  the  employee. 

A  lay  off  occurs  whenever  a  com- 
pany terminates  the  services  of  an 
employee  because  of  a  lack  of  work. 

{Note:  A  fourth  group  of  "Miscel- 
laneous Reasons"  covering  death, 
injury,  old  age,  etc.,  occur  rarely. 
Such  reasons  are  of  little  practical 
importance  and  can  be  classified  under 
Resignations.) 

2.  Minor  Classifications 

There  is  no  standard  list  of  the  rea- 
sons for  leaving  now  in  general  use. 
Some  companies  use  a  very  short  list 
and  soon  discover  that  many  excep- 
tional reasons  occur  that  fall  outside 
the  list.  Other  companies  go  to  the 
extreme  of  using  an  unlimited  number 
of  reasons  and  experience  great  diffi- 
culty in  attempting  to  compare  the 
nature  of  the  turnover  in  one  period 
with  that  of  another  period.  Such 
an  unlimited  list  of  reasons  leads  to 
unwieldy  turnover  reports.  The  fol- 
lowing list  of  reasons  is  proposed  as  a 
suitable  compromise.  This  list  yields 
definiteness  in  that  practically  all 
possible  reasons  can  be  readily  classi- 
fied. At  the  same  time  its  major 
subdivisions  are  few  enough  to  make 
comparisons  easy  and  to  keep  periodic 
turnover  reports  reasonably  short. 


REASONS  FOR  LEAVING 

R.  Resignations  Code  No. 

1.  Dissatisfaction  with  Wages 10 

Specific  Reasons 

Rate 11 

Earnings 12 

Uncertainty  of  amount.  ...  13 

Method  of  computing 14 

Method  of  pay 15 

2.  Dissatisfaction  with  Nature  of  Job  or 

Working  Conditions 20 

Specific  Reasons 

Work  too  hard  or  too  heavy  21 

"  dirty 22 

"  dusty 23 

"  wet 24 

"  smoky 25 

"  cold 26 

"hot 27 

"  noisy 28 

"  oily 29 

"  dangerous 30 

"  monotonous 31 

Work  causes  too  much  nerve 

strain 32 

,  Work  causes  too  much  eye 

strain 33 

Poor  lighting 34 

Unpleasant  smells 35 

Unsatisfactory  toilet  facili- 
ties   86 

Unsanitary  conditions 37 

Work  unhealthf  ul 38 

Machines  too  high 39 

3.  Dissatisfaction  ivith  Hours  or  Time  of 
Work 40 

Specific  Reasons 

Hours  too  long 41 

Hours  too  unhandy 42 

Night  work 43 

Sunday  work 44 

Seven  days'  work 45 

Lost  time 46 

Overtime 47 

4.  Dissatisfaction  with  Labor  Policies  50 

Specific  Reasons 

Dislike  of  management ....  51 

"       "  foreman 52 

Unadjusted  grievance 53 

Request  for  transfer  refused  54 

No  chance  to  advance 55 

Labor  trouble  threatened.  .  56 

Strike 57 

Desire  for  vacation  or  change 

of  work 58 


f. 


K 


r 


5.  More    Attractive     Opportvnities 

Elsewhere 60 

Specific  Reasons 

To  take  job  with  belter  pay  61 
To    take    job    with    better 

hours 62 

To    take   job    with    better 

future 63 

To  go  into  business  for  self .  64 

To  retire 65 

To  take  former  job 66 

To  work  at  trade 67 

To  go  to  school 68 

To  join  army  or  navy 69 

6.  Community  and  Family  Reasons .  70 

Specific  Reasons 

Sickness  in  family 71 

Needed  at  home 72 

Family  moving 73 

Dislike  of  city 74 

Dislike  of  climate 75 

Housing  conditions 76 

Poor  schools 77 

Narrow  acquaintances.  ...  78 

Factory  too  far  from  home .  79 

7.  Personal  Reasons 80 

Specific  Reasons 

,  Wanderlust 81 

V                        To  accompany  a  friend  leav- 
ing   82 

Leaving  city 83 

Leaving  U.  S 84 

Marriage 85 

Leave  of  absence 86 

8.  Physical  Reasons 90 

Specific  Reasons 

Superannuated  or  pensioned  91 

Death,  occupational  causes  92 

"      exterior  "  93 

Ill-health    due    to    factory 

work 94 

Ill-health    due    to    exterior 

factors 95 

Injury  from  work 96 

Injury  from  outside  causes .  97 

Pregnancy 98 

9.  Reasons  Unknown 100 

Specific  Reasons 

No  reason  given 101 

Left  without  final  interview  102 

Quit  without  notice 103 

Hired  but  failed  to  report.  .  104 

D.   DlSCH.A-RGES 

1.  Discharged  for  Incom,petency . .  110 

Specific  Reasons 

Worker  is  slow ...  HI 


Physically  unadapted 112 

Incompetent 113 

Spoiling  work 114 

2.  Discharged  for  Disciplinary  Rea- 
sons     120 

Specific  Reasons 

Careless 121 

Lazy 122 

Caught  loafing  or  sleeping.  .  123 

Habitually  absent 124 

Unreliable 126 

Disagreeable 127 

Dissatisfied 128 

Chronic  kicker 129 

Disturber  or  trouble  maker .  130 

Refused  transfer 131 

Violation  of  rules 132 

Insubordination 133 

Dishonesty 134 

Intoxication 135 

Immoral 136 

Fighting 137 

L.  Lay  Offs 

1.  Business  Conditions 140 

Specific  Reasons 

Industrial  depression 141 

Cancellation  of  orders 142 

Seasonal  fluctuation 143 

Completion    of    temporary 

work 144 

2.  Manufacturing  Conditions 

Specific  Reasons 

Change  in  industrial  proc- 
esses    151 

Discontinuance    of    depart- 
ment     152 

Shortage  of  material 153 

Breakdown 154 

Strike  or  lockout 155 

In  using  the  above  list  of  reasons 
for  leaving  it  is  recommended  that  a 
record  of  the  specific  reason  for  the 
departure  of  each  employee  be  kept. 
The  tabulated  turnover  reports  should 
then  use  the  major  headings  as  a  mat- 
ter of  routine.  In  this  way  detailed 
data  are  always  available  for  more 
minute  analysis  if  desirable.  For  ex- 
ample, should  a  company's  report 
show  an  unusually  large  number  of 
resignations  because  of  reason  20 
(dissatisfaction  with  nature  of  job 
and  working  conditions) ,  it  would  be  a 
simple  matter  to  prepare  an  additional 
report  that  would  show  exactly  what 


I 


176 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


177 


r 


I 


i 


specific   working  conditions  were  re- 
sponsible for  the  situation. 

This  recommendation  is  based  on 
the  principle  that  labor  turnover 
studies  should  primarily  reveal  general 
tendencies  with  emphasis  on  details 
only  when  the  details  seem  to  be  im- 
portant. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  to  clas- 
sify reasons  for  leaving  as  "avoidable" 
or  "unavoidable."  Experience  has 
shown  such  classifications  to  be  un- 
satisfactory and  in  some  cases  mis- 
leading. It  is  difficult  to  classify  any 
particular  case  of  turnover  as  avoid- 
able or  unavoidable.  A  particular 
discharge  may  be  unavoidable  at  the 
moment,  yet  discharges  are  clearly 
avoidable  in  the  majority  of  cases,  for 
they  represent  an  error  in  selection 
and  placement  by  the  employment 
department,  inadequate  training  or 
upgrading  of  the  employee  in  his  job 
or  the  lack  of  effective  leadership  in 
managing  him.  Yet  some  companies 
classify  discharges  as  unavoidable 
while  other  companies  classify  dis- 
charges as  avoidable.  Such  lack  of 
uniformity  makes  it  diflBcult  to  inter- 
pret the  turnover  reports  issued  by 
different  plants. 

Again,  a  ten  per  cent  lay  off  because 
of  seasonal  fluctuation  of  the  business 
mav  for  the  moment  be  unavoidable. 
Had  a  different  sales  policy  been  in 
effect  or  perhaps  had  a  manufacturing- 
to-stock  policy  or  a  manufacturing  of 
a  side-line  product  policy  been  in 
effect,  it  is  possible  that  no  such  lay 
offs  would  have  been  necessary. 

Ill-health  and  sickness  are  classified 
by  some  firms  as  unavoidable.  Ex- 
perience has  shown  that  it  is  possible 
to  cut  down  a  certain  amount  of  turn- 
over for  such  reasons  through  medical 
examination,  medical  advice,  first  aid, 
nursing  service  and  campaigns  of  edu- 
cation in  hygiene  and  right  living. 

Even  such  a  limited  consideration  of 
"avoidable"  and  "unavoidable"  rea- 
sons indicates  the  impossibility  of 
making  such  classification  with  even  a 
fair  amount  of  accuracy.  For  this 
reason  an  effort  is  here  abandoned  and 


a  procedure  is  recommended  that  will 
give  uniform  results  from  one  company 
to  another  if  the  simple  definitions  of 
"resignation,"  "discharge"  and  "laid 
off"  are  adhered  to. 

The  purpose  of  the  classification 
here  proposed  is  to  bring  about  greater 
uniformity  in  labor  turnover  studies 
in  order  that  one  company  may  know 
how  its  turnover  problem  at  one  period 
compares  with  that  of  another  period. 

Computation   of  Labor   Turnover 

The  lack  of  uniformity  in  classifying 
reasons  is  paralleled  by  a  similar  lack 
of  uniformity  in  methods  of  computing 
labor  turnover.  Without  discussing 
the  merits  of  the  various  methods  it 
is  proposed  that  the  following  method 
of  computation  be  adopted.  State 
labor  turnover  in  the  form  of  the  per- 
centage of  the  number  of  terminations 
of  employment  to  the  average  force 
on  the  payroll  during  the  year.  For 
example,  if  the  average  force  on  the 
payroll  during  a  year  is  50  and  the 
number  of  terminations  during  the 
year  is  50,  the  turnover  for  the  year 
is  100%.  That  is,  the  number  of 
terminations  (50)  is  divided  by  the 
average  force  (50).  The  result  is  a 
percentage  figure  of  100. 

This  method  recognizes  the  necessity 
for  expressing  labor  turnover  by  a 
figure  that  reflects  not  only  the  sig- 
nificance of  changes  from  the  point  of 
view  of  cost  to  the  employer  but  also 
from  the  point  of  view  of  cost  to  the 
public  and  the  employee.  This  method 
gives  a  general  picture  of  the  turnover 
situation  as  a  whole. 

It  must  be  recognized  that  a  labor 
turnover  percentage  in  itself  gives  only 
a  vague  idea  of  labor  fluctuation.  It 
needs  to  be  broken  down  so  as  to  show 
the  "Resignation  Turnover  Per  Cent," 
the  "Discharge  Turnover  Per  Cent" 
and  the  "Lay  Off  Turnover  Per  Cent." 
Indeed  it  may  even  be  desirable  to 
show  turnover  percentages  for  various 
specific  groups  of  reasons.  By  such 
a  procedure  the  nature  of  the  turnover 
as  well  as  the  amount  of  turnover  is 
revealed. 


V 


^ 


Reducing  all  Turnover  Percent- 
ages TO  A  Common  Basis 

Labor  turnov^er  reports  may  be 
issued  weekly,  monthly,  quarterly, 
semi-annually.  Within  a  given  com- 
pany all  of  these  reports  might  be 
issued  as  a  matter  of  routine.  If  all 
such  reports  reduce  the  turnover  per- 
centage to  a  yearly  basis  it  is  evident 
that  the  amount  of  turnover  for  a 
week,  a  month  or  a  quarter,  may  then 
be  directly  compared. 

The  procedure  for  reducing  the 
turnover  for  a  given  period  to  an  an- 
nual basis  is  as  follows : 

1.  Weekly  figures.  The  number  of 
terminations  occurring  during  the  week 
is  multiplied  by  52  to  show  how  many 
terminations  would  occur  during  a 
year  if  the  number  of  terminations 
were  to  continue  at  the  same  rate. 
Dividing  this  number  by  the  average 
payroll  for  the  week  gives  the  desired 
turnover  percentages  on  an  annual 
basis. 

2.  Monthly  figures.  If  the  figures 
cover  terminations  for  a  four-week 
period  then  you  multiply  the  number 
of  terminations  by  13  to  get  the  num- 
ber that  would  occur  during  a  year  at 
the  same  rate.  If  the  figures  cover  a 
five-week  period  then  multiply  by  10.4, 
because  five  weeks  go  into  the  52  weeks 
in  a  year  ten  and  four-tenths  times. 
If  a  calendar  month  is  used  multiply 
by  twelve.  Dividing  this  number  by 
the  average  payroll  for  the  month 
gives  the  turnover  on  a  yearly  basis. 
The  average  payroll  for  the  month  is 
found  by  adding  the  number  on  the 
payroll  at  the  beginning  of  the  month 
and  at  the  end  of  the  month  and  then 
dividing  by  2. 

3.  Quarterly  figures.  The  figures 
should  cover  a  13  week  period  (made 
up  of  two  four-week  and  one  five- 
week  periods) .  The  number  of  termi- 
nations during  the  13  week  period  is 
multiplied  by  four  to  get  the  number 
that  would  occur  in  a  year's  time. 
This  is  then  divided  by  the  average 
payroll  for  the  quarter  {i.e.  the  average 
of  the  three  average  monthly  pay- 
rolls). 


Analysis  of  Turnover  by 
Departments 

Ordinarily,  turnover  by  depart- 
ments should  be  analyzed  to  the  extent 
of  showing  the  amount  of  turnover  for 
each  department  and  the  reasons  for 
leaving  each  department.  In  this 
way  the  departments  in  which  the  turn- 
over is  most  heavily  concentrated  are 
automatically  pointed  out.  The  tabu- 
lation of  the  reasons  for  leaving  each 
department  shows  immediately  what 
caused  the  excessive  turnover  in  those 
departments. 

To  carry  forward  this  analysis  as  a 
routine  matter  implies  the  existence 
of  figures  showing  the  number  of  em- 
ployees on  the  payroll  by  departments 
as  well  as  a  record  showing  the  depart- 
ment in  which  each  exit  was  employed 
and  the  reason  for  the  departure  of 
each  exit. 

Analysis  of  Turnover  by  Occupa- 
tions OR  Crafts 

If  the  occupations  in  the  company 
have  been  carefully  classified  and 
arranged  in  a  workable  Occupational 
Index,  it  is  then  possible  to  carry 
forward  an  analysis  of  turnover  by 
occupations.  Here  again  the  purpose 
is  to  identify  those  occupations  in 
which  labor  turnover  is  excessive. 
The  reasons  for  leaving  each  occupa- 
tional group  should  also  be  tabulated 
so  that  the  cause  of  excessive  turnover 
in  any  occupational  group  may  readily 
be  determined. 

Such  occupational  analyses  become 
unwieldy  unless  all  similar  occupations 
have  been  grouped  together  in  an 
index.  With  an  index  listing  twenty 
or  thirty  major  occupational  groups 
it  is  a  simple  matter  to  carry  forward 
the  number  of  employees  in  each  of 
these  groups  to  tabulate  the  number 
of  exits  from  each  group  and  to  record 
the  reason  for  leaving.  Occupational 
analyses  of  this  sort  are  of  unusual 
value  because  of  the  relation  of  wages 
to  occupations  and  because  competi- 
tion for  labor  on  the  part  of  other 
firms  is  usually  a  competition  by  crafts. 

It  isunfortunate  for  purposes  of  the 


l! 


178 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


cooperative  study  of  turnover  in  a 
given  industry  or  in  a  given  com- 
munity that  there  is  no  standard 
occupational  index  in  existence.  The 
nearest  approach  is  the  **  Trade  Speci- 
fications and  Index  of  Professions  and 
Trades  in  the  Army"  issued  by  the 
War  Department  on  March  21,  1918. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  the  companies 
cooperating  in  these  labor  turnover 
studies  would  gain  much  by  the  use  of 
the  Army  Index.  The  cooperating 
companies  represent  many  different 
industries  so  that  relatively  few  occu- 
pations are  common  to  them  all  or 
even  to  a  small  number.  For  this 
reason  the  occupational  index  would 
be  a  very"  lengthy  and  bulky  affair, 
only  a  small  part  of  the  index  being 
applicable  to  any  particular  company. 
The  situation  seems  to  demand  a 
separate  occupational  index  for  each 
company.  Since  many  companies  do 
not  have  a  svstematized  classification 
of  their  jobs  at  present  it  is  recom- 
mended that  each  company  should 
prepare  an  index  for  itself.  This 
index  with  the  turnover  record  should 
be  submitted  to  the  Industrial  Re- 
search Department  to  facilitate  occu- 
pational turnover  analyses  for  each 
company. 

Analysis  of  Tltinover  by  Length 
OF  Service 

It  is  important  to  study  turnover  in 
relation  to  length  of  service  to  deter- 
mine whether  turnover  is  excessive 
among  new  employed  or  whether  it  is 
excessive  among  any  other  length  of 
service  group.  Turnover  for  a  com- 
pany as  a  whole  may  be  relatively 
small  and  yet  an  excessive  turnover 
may  exist  among  some  particular 
length  of  service  group.  To  defi- 
nitely measure  turnover  in  relation  to 
length  of  service  is  ordinarily  difficult, 
for  it  involves  a  periodic  inventory  of 
the  length  of  service  of  employees  on 
the  job.  This  type  of  analysis  has 
rarelv  been  made. 

The  usual  procedure  and  the  pro- 
cedure here  recommended  for  routine 
turnover  reports  consists  in  recording 


the  length  of  service  of  each  exit, 
tabulating  the  distribution  of  the 
length  of  service  of  exit  in  such  a  way 
as  to  compare  the  length  of  service  of 
those  exits  who  resign,  are  discharged 
or  laid  off. 

Analysis  of  Turnover  by  Age 

A  record  of  the  age  of  each  exit  will 
permit  the  Research  Department  to 
study  important  relationships  between 
age  and  sex,  and  turnover  in  certain 
occupations.  For  example,  a  very 
definite  and  important  relationship 
has  been  found  by  some  companies 
between  age  and  stabiHty  of  common 
laborers.  It  will  take  considerable 
research  work  to  discover  how  uni- 
versal such  relationships  are — each 
company  can  make  a  real  contribution 
to  these  studies  by  furnishing  the 
necessary  age  and  occupational  data 
about  each  exit. 

Turnover  by  Education,  National- 
ity, Dependents  and  Marital 
Status 

No  question  of  turnover  is  of  greater 
importance  than  the  relation  of  edu- 
cation to  occupational  satisfaction. 
A  few  experimental  studies  give  much 
promise.  Unless  the  education  record 
is  carefully  procured,  conclusions  will 
be  misleading.  It  is  necessary  to 
know  the  age  at  which  the  exit  left 
school  as  well  as  the  grade  attained. 
The  accumulation  of  data  concerning 
the  education,  nationality,  dependents, 
etc.,  of  each  exit  from  the  various 
cooperating  companies  will  in  time 
permit  the  Research  Department  to 
make  studies  of  the  relationship  be- 
tween turnover  and  these  various 
factors.  At  the  present  time  there  is 
much  speculation  and  numerous  opin- 
ions concerning  the  effect  of  these 
factors  on  turnover,  but  little  actual 
knowledge  is  available.  Results  from 
the  reporting  of  such  detailed  data 
could  be  secured  only  after  a  consid- 
erable time.  It  is  believed,  however, 
that  study  of  these  factors  will  yield 
results    that    will,    in    the    long    run, 


t 


f 


k 


^ 


' 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


179 


more  than  repay  the  cooperating  mem- 
bers for  the  expense  involved  in  sub- 
mitting to  the  Department  such  data 
concerning  each  exit. 

Summary  of  Data  to  be  Submitted 
BY  Cooperating  Members 

The  following  data  should  be  sub- 
mitted monthly  to  the  Department  by 
each  of  the  companies  cooperating  in 
the  study  of  labor  turnover : 

1.  Departmental  Labor  Inventory.    This 

is  a  list  of  the  departments  show- 
ing the  number  of  employees  on 
each  departmental  payroll  on  the 
first  day  of  the  month. 

2.  Occupational  Labor  Inventory.    This 

is  a  list  of  the  major  occupations 
showing  the  number  of  employees 
in  each  major  occupation  on  the 
first  day  of  the  month. 

3.  Data  Concerning  Exits.     This  is  a 

list  of  all  exits  during  the  preced- 
ing month  showing  for  each  exit 
the  department,  occupation,  spe- 
cific reason  for  leaving,  length  of 
\  service,  age  and  sex. 

The  Department  will  issue  record 
sheets  that  will  facilitate  the  recording 
of  data.  To  save  space  on  the  record 
sheet  and  to  reduce  the  clerical  work 
involved  in  entering  the  data  it  is 
necessary  to  print  on  the  record  sheet 
itself  certain  items  that  only  need  to 
be  circled  in  making  an  entry.  The 
items  are  as  follows : 

Age: — •  Blank  space  for  entry  of  date  of 
birth. 

Race  and  Sex: — Letters  M  and  F 
printed  on  record  sheet.  Circle  M 
in  case  of  male  and  F  in  case  of 
female  exit.  Colored  will  be  indi- 
cated by  circling  C  as  well  as  male 
and  female. 

Length  of  Service: — ^Two  spaces  pro- 
vided for  the  date  of  entrance  and 
date  of  leaving,  showing  the  total 
length  of  service  of  the  employee. 

Reason  for  Leaving: — ^Letters  R,  D, 
L,  M  printed  on  record.  Circle  R 
for  resignations,  D  for  discharges, 
L  for  laid  off,  M  for  miscellaneous. 
Space  for  entering  the  specific  reason 


for  leaving.  See  "  Reasons  for  leav- 
ing" list.  Circling  the  letter  for 
items  is  insufficient.  A  detailed 
reason  should  also  be  given. 

Department: — Space  for  entering  the 
name  of  the  department  being  left 
by  the  exit. 

Occupation: — Space  for  entering  the 
name  of  the  occupation  the  person 
is  leaving.  These  names  to  be  fur- 
nished by  each  company  for  its  own 
list  of  occupations. 

Reports  to  Cooperating  Companies 
BY  THE  Department 

The  chief  value  of  an  elaborate 
turnover  report  lies  in  the  discovery  of 
trends  and  tendencies  that  need  cor- 
rection. Monthly  reports  are  apt  to 
reflect  momentary  conditions  that  are 
absent  in  subsequent  months.  The 
short  weekly  and  monthly  reports 
usually  compiled  within  a  company 
reveal  these  momentary  conditions  to 
a  sufficient  extent  for  all  immediate 
purposes. 

Detailed  turnover  reports  that  will 
disclose  important  trends  and  tenden- 
cies need  to  cover  a  number  of  months. 
It  is  probable  that  semi-annual  reports 
will  best  serve  this  purpose. 

Such  semi-annual  reports  will  in- 
clude an  analysis  of  changes  in  the 
amount,  nature  and  causes  of  turnover 
from  month  to  month.  In  this  way 
those  conditions  that  exist  in  only 
one  or  two  months  will  be  concen- 
trated with  the  more  important  trends 
that  show  up  for  a  number  of  months. 

The  Department  will  tabulate  the 
turnover  figures  from  each  company  at 
the  end  of  each  month  and  at  the  end 
of  each  three  months*  period  will  pre- 
pare a  special  report.  The  special 
quarterly  report  for  any  company  will 
concern  itself,  of  course,  with  the  turn- 
over figures  for  that  company  alone. 

In  this  way  each  company  will  re- 
ceive a  direct  service  from  the  Depart- 
ment relative  to  its  own  turnover 
figures.  At  the  same  time  the  Depart- 
ment will  be  able  to  render  a  more 
general  service  by  supplying  all  the 


180 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


181 


Ih 


companies    those    general    facts    and 
relationships  that  are  discovered  from 
time  to  time  and  such  comparisons  as 
are  at  all  useful  and  comparable. 
A  form  covering  the  items  already 


discussed  is  supplied  to  firms.  This  is 
printed  in  the  appendix.  In  a  few 
cases  a  more  detailed  form  is  used  by 
the  plant,  equipped  to  give  such  in- 
formation.    (See  exhibit  Nos.  1  and  2.) 


IV— DISCUSSION  OF  GROUPING  OF  IVL\JOR  CLASSIFICATIONS 


Significance  of  ^Lvin  Divisions  and 
Major  Reasons  of  Turnover 

Nine  major  reasons   will  be  found 
under  Resignations : 

(1)  Dissatisfaction  with  wages. 

(2)  Dissatisfaction   with  nature  of  job 

or  working  conditions. 

(3)  Dissatisfaction  with  hours  or  time  of 

work. 

(4)  Dissatisfaction  with  Labor  Policies. 

(5)  More  attractive  opportunities  else- 

where. 

(6)  Community  and  family  reasons. 

(7)  Personal  reasons. 

(8)  Physical  reasons. 

(9)  Reason  unknown. 

The  first  four  groups  show  roughly 
the  relation  of  the  employee  to  his 
own  plant,  the  fifth  deals  with  the 
employee  in  his  relation  to  other  plants, 
the  sixth  and  seventh  attempt  to  dis- 
tinguish between  social  and  personal 
reasons.  This  latter  classification  is 
significant  mainly  in  the  industries 
employing  women,  since  a  large  item 
in  the  "personal"  group  is  due  to  res- 
ignations of  women  "to  be  married." 
The  "unknown"  does  not  in  most 
cases  represent  poor  statistical  report- 
ing, but  comprises  rather  the  cases  of 
employees  who  quit,  giving  such  an 
indefinite  reason  that  no  one  can  dis- 
tinguish between  the  primary  cause 
and  general  dissatisfaction  due  to 
many  circumstances 

Frequently  questions  arise  concern- 
ing the  reliability  of  reasons  given  to 
the  interviewer  of  an  employer.  It  is 
true  that  a  worker  rarely  resigns  for 


any  one  reason,  his  decision  to  leave  is 
often  influenced  by  a  series  of  previous 
occurrences.  Even  at  the  time  he 
leaves,  secondary  reasons  are  often 
given.  The  interviewer  is  forced  to 
judge  the  circumstances  that  seem  to 
be  of  most  influence,  by  his  knowledge 
of  the  character  of  the  foreman,  by  his 
previous  contact  with  the  worker,  or  by 
difficulties  in  connection  with  produc- 
tion or  earnings  at  the  time.  In  a 
large  number  of  exits  the  secondary 
reason  for  one  employee  will  appear 
as  primary  for  another.  Over  a  long 
period  the  reasons  causing  most  dif- 
ficulty should  appear.  The  reasons 
given  throughout  this  report  are  those 
secured  by  the  interviewer  at  the  plant 
reporting.  It  would  be  desirable  to 
check  certain  reasons  by  personal 
interviewing  after  the  employee  has 
left  the  plant.  For  instance,  when 
such  interviewing  is  possible  the  "work 
elsewhere"  group  changes  somewhat. 
But  little  work  has  been  done  in  check- 
ing, nor  would  it  be  easy  to  do  such 
work  later.  Besides  many  of  the 
reasons  would  still  be  far  from  exact. 
As  will  be  pointed  out  later,  there  are 
rough  checks  in  the  figures  themselves. 
Again,  many  reasons  are  too  subtle  to 
appear  directly.  For  instance,  rela- 
tions between  education  and  occupa- 
tional satisfaction,  between  age  and 
stability,  between  promotion  and  skill, 
etc.,  must  be  arrived  at  indirectly. 
Such  a  reason  as  "lacks  confidence" 
often  should  be  checked  with  the 
education     and     past    experience    of 


\ 


X 


the  worker — ^these  more  subtle  causes 
being  unknown  to  either  worker  or 
recorder. 

To  show  that  it  is  possible  to  get 
complaints  that  pertain  to  the  work 
and  the  management,  an  analysis  is 
here  given  of  the  detailed  reasons, 
grouped  under  "Working  Conditions" 
and  "Labor  Policy"  at  a  textile  plant, 
during  1921.  From  the  reasons  one 
might  infer  that  the  firm  was  operating 
with  poor  building  and  equipment. 
It  is,  in  fact,  a  well  conducted,  modern 
plant,  one  of  the  best  in  the  trade. 
Despite  good  lay-out  there  still  re- 
mains the  question  of  routing  of  work 
and  the  inter-relation  of  production 
as  work  advances  through  the  shop. 


all  of  which  affect  the  satisfaction  and 
stability  of  employees. 

Could  anyone  read  over  the  list  of 
reasons  without  realizing  how  closely 
related  are  matters  of  industrial  organi- 
zation to  employees'  stability,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  some  of  the  specific 
names  of  operations  have  been  elim- 
inated to  prevent  identification.^  One 
wonders  what  was  the  occupation  and 
length  of  service  of  the  one  hundred 
and  twenty-two  persons  who  "dis- 
liked the  work."  These  queries  can 
be  answered  from  the  figures;  there 
still  remains  the  unanswered  question 
of  just  what  occasioned  the  dislike. 
In  this  case  the  employment  manager 
does   especially   well   in   interviewing. 


WORKING   CONDITIONS  AND   LABOR  POLICY 


I 


Reasons  for  Leaving 

Total 

Reasons  for  Leaving 

Total 

Disliked  work 

122 
30 
21 

1 

4 

1 

13 

1 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
2 
1 

1 

1 
9 
1 
3 
4 

Work  too  hard  on  hands 

Wanted  home  work 

1 

w 

2 

Dissatisfied 

Changed  to  different  work 

Wanted  only  the  best  work 

Wanted  time  work 

5 

Work  too  hard 

1 
1 

Machines 
Wanted  different  machine 

Could  not  get  used  to  points 

Dissatisfied  with  wool  work 

Too  much  lint 

1 
1 
1 

Poor  machine 

Individual  Preferences . 

Disliked  partner 

Machine  trouble 

Dissatisfied  with  machine 

1 

Disliked  surroundings 

1 

RoiUing  of  Work 

Disliked  large  work  room 

1 

Place  had  too  much  system 

Indoor  work  too  confining 

1 

Disliked  system 

Too  manv  stens  to  climb 

1 

Had  to  wait  too  long  for  work 

Work  too  diflferent 

Did  not  know  what  she  wanted .... 
Never  satisfied — fourth  trial 

Difficulty  with  Foreman  or  Rules 

Dissatisfied  with  demotion 

Dissatisfied  with  foreman  or  fore- 
woman   

1 
1 

Objected  to  having  work  examined  . . 

Changed  machines  too  often 

Wanted  two  machines 

2 

Disliked  running  three  machines  .... 
Wanted    steady    work    on    uniform 

7 

product 

Reprimanded  for  being  lazy  and  left 
Too  big  for  job 

1 

1 

Type  of  Work 
Wanted  small  work 

Dissatisfied  with  being  docked  when 

absent  for  no  good  reason 

Disliked  rules 

1 

Wanted  different  work 

1 

Wanted  coarse  work 

Broke  rules-^did  not  report 

Grand  Total 

1 

Work  too  fine 

Work  too  hard  on  eyes 

255 

^  i 


]  . 


182 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


11 


He  is  not  satisfied  to  write  down  ab- 
stract reasons,  but,  instead,  is  keeping 
a  record  of  value  to  the  production 
manager  and  foremen  in  correcting 
difficulties.  Unfortunately  the  records 
of  many  employment  departments  are 
useful  merely  in  keeping  a  file  clerk 
busy.  As  long  as  personnel  executives 
are  willing  to  write  down  "dissatisfied, 
resigned,  left,"  etc.,  with  no  further 
comment,  they  are  not  getting  far  in 
coordinating  their  work  with  the  em- 


ployee nor  are  they  securing  informa- 
tion worth  the  expense  of  recording. 

Up  to  this  point  the  study  has  dealt 
with  the  organization  and  scope  of  the 
Department;  methods  of  collection 
and  standardization  have  been  dis- 
cussed. The  last  part  of  the  study 
will  be  concerned  with  production 
conditions  in  the  area  and  with  a 
comparison  of  percentage  rates  and 
causes  of  turnover  in  public  and  pri- 
vate employments. 


PART  II 
I— PRODUCTION  CONDITIONS 

I.  Tendency  of  business  movements  in  1921, 183  —  Turnover  periods  break  in 
similar  way,  183  —  Movements  inverse  in  1921,  similar  in  1922,  183  —  Contrast 
of  men's  and  women's  employment,  184  —  Spotty  character  of  production  condi- 
tions in  firms  reporting,  184  —  II.  Finns  fall  into  two  groups  for  turnover  percent- 
age. First  group  goes  upward  to  May,  downward  to  December.  Second  groups 
follow  each  other  with  high  turnover  in  summer,  188  —  General  tendency  of  lay 
off  curve  to  follow  total  turnover  curve,  190  —  Summary  description  of  charts  II, 
III,  IV,  V,  and  VI,  190  —  Quarterly  variations  follow  monthly,  190  —  Difficulty 
of  classifying  each  main  division  of  exit  imder  its  proper  reason,  196  —  Tendency 
to  like  movements  found  in  period,  196  —  Too  much  stress  should  not  be  put  on 
volxmtary  character  of  resignations,  197  —  Lay  offs  at  separate  plants,  197  — 
Many  unanswered  questions  in  connection  with  effect  of  lay  offs,  197  —  Dis- 
charges due  to  lack  of  skill,  or  connected  with  discipline,  199  —  Opposite  forces 
affect  discharges  in  times  of  lay  offs,  200  —  Relation  of  resignations  to  lay  offs, 
200.  —  IV.  Most  important  major  reasons  imder  resignations,  200  —  Wage 
problems  may  differ  although  turnover  under  them  be  similar,  205  —  Percentage 
under  working  conditions  run  parallel  with  type  of  manufacturing,  20.5  —  Work 
elsewhere  most  important  for  further  study,  206  —  Home  duties  are  important 
in  firms  employing  women,  209  —  Personal  reasons  mainly  marriage,  209  — 
Physical  reasons  range  from  2.1  per  cent  up  to  13.4  per  cent,  209  —  V.  Length  of 
service  of  exits  according  to  firms  i,  3,  6,  8, 10,  24,  210  —  Why  larger  nimiber  of 
exits  have  shortest  length  of  service,  210  —  Factors  involved  in  summary  com- 
parison of  turnover  in  ten  firms,  217  —  Description  of  Chart  XIII,  217  —  VII. 
Public  and  Private  Employment.  Analysis  of  Chart  XIII,  217  —  Resignations 
differ  widely.  Discharge  rates  very  similar,  221  —  Conclusions,  223  —  Less 
floating  than  is  usually  believed,  223  —  Necessity  for  coordination  of  education 
and  research,  225. 


A. 


\ 


> 


BEFORE  considering  the  produc- 
tion conditions  of  plants  in  this 
area  it  is  well  to  recall  the  general  tend- 
ency of  business  movements  during 
1921.  Professor  Charles  J.  Bullock 
in  the  Review  of  Economic  Statistics^ 
summarizes  thus : 

For  the  United  States  the  year  1921 
naturally  divides  into  two  periods,  which 
were,  respectively,  of  five  and  seven  months' 
duration.  From  January  to  May  the 
forces  making  for  general  liquidation  had 
the  upper  hand,  and  commodity  prices  and 
business  activity  steadily  declined.  Im- 
provement was  indeed  taking  place  in  in- 
dustries which  had  been  the  earliest  to 
liquidate;  but  the  general  trend  was  down- 
ward, although  at  a  perceptibly  diminishing 
rate.     This  period  marked  the  end  of  the 

1  January,  1922,  Vol.  IV.  p.  1. 


wave  of  general  liquidation  which  l)roke  in 
the  spring  of  1920,  and  constituted  the  last 
phase  of  the  business  cycle  which  began 
early  in  1919.  In  June  the  second  period 
opened  with  an  upward  turn  of  commodity 
prices  and  business  activity,  which  by 
August  had  brought  substantial  recovery 
from  the  trough  of  the  depression.  The 
fall  months  saw  further  improvement, 
although  somewhat  less  than  the  seasonal 
amount;  and  then,  w^ith  the  approach  of 
winter,  came  a  normal  slackening  of  trade 
and  industry. 

It  will  be  seen  in  chapter  three  of 
this  part  of  the  study  that  Labor  turn- 
over was  divided  into  periods  of  much 
the  same  duration,  the  high  point  of 
turnover  falling  in  the  Api>ii  and  May 
months. 

A    description    of    the    production 


183 


<«  il 


184 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


18.'] 


ft  ^ 


conditions  of  separate  plants  is  under- 
taken   to    show    the    general    spotty 
character  of  manufacturing  conditions. 
Wherever  comparisons  are  later  made 
in  rates  of  turnover,  this  difference  in 
production   conditions   should   be   re- 
called.    Another    consideration    may 
well  be  borne  in   mind,   when  firms 
employing  women  are  being  compared 
with    so-called    men's    industries.     In 
the  Philadelphia  area  there  has  been 
developed  what,  for  the  time  being, 
might  be  considered  a  chronic  condi- 
tion of  unemployment  in  the  men's  in- 
dustries.    The  war  production  l)rought 
sliipyards,  electric  supply  houses,  man- 
ufacture of  turbine  engines  and  many 
subsidiary  metal  trades.     These  indus- 
tries have  been  dying  out  throughout 
the    year.      On    the    other    hand,    a 
number   of    women's   industries  have 
been  developing  during  the  same  pe- 
riod: clothing,  hosiery%  mail-order  and 
foreign-trading  firms    and    a   number 
of  similar  large  industries  employing 
women.     During  the  year  1921,  when 
the  men's  industries  were  either  closed 
completely  or  working  half  time,  it  was 
almost  as  difficult  to  secure  a  supply 
of  women's  labor  as  it  was  at  any  time 
during  the  War.     This  situation  must 
be  taken  into  account  when  consid- 
ering unemployment  or  labor  turnover 
for  plants  employing  both  men  and 
women. 

Number  of  Employees  on  Payroll 

Certain  general  deductions  may  be 
made,  however,  concerning  manu- 
facturing conditions  by  considering 
the  number  of  employees  on  the  pay- 
roll. Yet,  when  interpreting  business 
conditions  from  such  data,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  other  factors  count 
in  determining  the  actual  production 
of  the  area.  First,  there  was  a  growth 
of  new  ehterprises,  perhaps  the  most 
characteristic  development  of  the  past 
year.     Some    of    this    movement    is 


reflected  in  the  reasons  for  leaving 
plants,  as  will  be  seen  later  in  the  study, 
where  attention  is  given  to  the  occu- 
pations from  which  men  resigned, 
giving  as  a  reason,  "to  start  in  busi- 
ness for  themselves."  Another  factor 
worth  notice,  though  it  must  not  be 
exaggerated,  is  the  increase  in  the 
efficiency  of  employees.  There  are 
firms  who  report  a  uniform  production 
despite  a  40  per  cent  decrease  in  their 
payroll.  This  would  indicate  that, 
in  certain  cases,  the  amount  of  pro- 
duction has  not  fallen  off  in  any  way 
comparable  with  the  decrease  in  num- 
ber on  the  payroll. 

During  the  year  1921,  production 
conditions  varied  at  the  different  plants 
in  the  research  group.  Firms  No.  2 
and  No.  24  increased  steadily;  firm 
No.  1  was  stationary;  No.  3  showed  a 
steady  but  little  marked  decrease; 
Nos.  4,  8,  and  15  fluctuated,  especially 
during  the  summer  months;  Nos.  6, 
7  and  1 1  decreased  spectacularly.  ; 

Chart  I  on  page  185  illustrates  the 
wide  difference  in  production  as  shown 
by  the  index  of  number  employed. 
The  curve  for  firm  No.  1  follows  the 
base  line  closely,  that  for  No.  2  moves 
gradually  upward,  increases  no  more 
than  five  per  cent  in  any  one  month, 
yet  maintains  a  two  to  three  per  cent 
regular  monthly  increase.  Firm  No. 
11  shows  not  only  the  effect  of  the 
depression,  but  also  the  result  of  a 
post-war  adjustment. 

Firms  Number  2  and  Number  2Ii. 

Firms  No.  2  and  24  belong  to  a 
textile  group;  the  one  makes  a  special- 
ized finished  product,  while  the  other 
manufactures  a  staple  grade  of  cloth. 
Firm  No.  2  grew  very  gradually,  the 
number  of  employees  on  the  payroll 
increasing  throughout  the  early 
months  of  1922  in  about  the  same  ratio 
as  that  of  the  months  of  the  year  1921. 
Firm  No.  24  had  an  increase  compa- 


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180 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


187 


rable  to  the  development  of  many  con- 
cerns during  the  War.  The  number 
on  the  payroll  more  than  doubled 
between  January  and  April,  trebled 
by  June,  quadrupled  by  September, 
and  continued  to  increase  until  No- 
vember. Since  that  time  there  has 
been  a  steady  movement  downward, 
until  by  March,  1922,  the  number  of 
employees  is  about  equal  to  the  num- 
ber at  work  in  May,  1921.  Firm  No. 
24  has  thus  had  the  problem  of  hiring 
a  large  number  of  people  at  one  time 
and  depending  for  their  supply  upon 
persons  trained  in  other  plants  of  the 
same  type  in  the  nearby  area.  This 
rapid  increase,  as  well  as  the  labor  con- 
ditions of  that  industry,  is  reflected  in 
the  rapidly  mounting  turnover  per- 
centage considered  later  in  this  study. 
Both  these  industries  employ  women. 
The  one  is  primarily  a  women's  indus- 
try%  employing  about  ten  per  cent  of 
men,  whereas,  in  the  other,  women 
constitute  roughly  about  fifty  per  cent 
of  the  total  number. 

Firm  Number  1 

The  average  number  of  employees 
on  the  payroll  varied  little  in  the  above 
firm  throughout  the  year  1921.  The 
greatest  number  employed  was  in 
August,  though  the  total  variation  of 
the  year  was  less  than  two  per  cent. 
The  year  1922  starts  with  a  greater 
drop.  February  is  2.7  per  cent  and 
March  is  3.9  per  cent  below  June,  the 
low  point  of  1921.  When  one  com- 
pares men  and  women,  there  is  a  more 
striking  difference;  the  number  of 
women  employed  has  decreased  stead- 
ily month  by  month  from  June,  1921, 
to  March,  1922.  Even  during  the 
summer  months,  when  the  number  of 
men  on  the  payroll  increased,  there 
was  a  continuous  decrease  in  the  num- 
ber of  women  employed.  Throughout 
the  period  from  May  to  December, 
the  number  on  the  payroll  did  not  vary 


from  month  to  month  more  than  1.8 
per  cent.  Though  the  year  1922 
started  with  slightly  less  stationary 
conditions,  there  has  been  a  drop  of 
about  1.5  per  cent  each  month  since 
December,  1921.  Recovery  took  place 
in  May  and  in  still  greater  degree 
in  June.  The  net  result  of  the  slight 
monthly  variations  for  this  whole 
period  of  eighteen  months  is  a  fluctua- 
tion of  ten  per  cent. 

Firm  Number  3 

Firm  No.  3  is  a  high  grade  specialty 
manufacturing  company.  New  em- 
ployees were  not  added  during  1921. 
After  a  considerable  lay  off  in  February 
the  number  employed  decreased  slowly 
about  three  per  cent  from  month  to 
month  throughout  1921  and  the  early 
months  of  1922,  mainly  through  failure 
to  replace  resignations. 

Firms    Number    4»    Number    8    and 
Number  15 

Firms  No.  4,  8  and  15  represent  ^ 
wholly  different  types  of  finished 
products.  They  are  comparable,  how- 
ever, in  the  fact  that  chemical  prob- 
lems determine  the  production  control. 
The  care  of  labor  is  affected  by  condi- 
tions growing  out  of  the  use  of  gases 
as  well  as  by  some  of  the  wet  opera- 
tions commonly  found  in  the  industries 
using  chemicals. 

In  firm  No.  4  the  number  on  the 
payroll  increased  from  January  to 
May,  1921.  A  slight  drop  in  June 
was  followed  by  an  increase  in  July. 
During  the  rest  of  the  year  there  was 
a  considerable  downward  movement 
in  the  curve,  though  the  year  ended 
with  a  larger  number  of  employees 
than  was  found  on  the  roll  at  the  be- 
ginning. 1922  shows  a  wholly  dif- 
ferent production  situation.  Activity 
began  in  certain  occupations  in  the 
month  of  February.  Business  since 
then  has  made  possible  a  reinstatement 


> 


,V 


of  employees  averaging  12  per  cent 
monthly.  The  eighteen  months  end 
with  one  and  one-half  times  as  many 
employees  on  the  payroll  as  in  Jan- 
uary, 1921. 

Though  the  changes  are  within  a 
very  narrow  range,  firm  No.  15  varies 
from  month  to  month  more  than  any 
other  plant  considered  in  the  group. 
There  is  a  downward  point  in  the  curve 
in  March,  July  and  December,  1921. 
The  lowest  point  is  that  of  July.  The 
points  above  the  base  line  are  in  Jan- 
uary, April,  June  and  October.  De- 
spite this  upward  and  downward 
movement,  there  is  only  an  average 
variation  of  about  ten  per  cent  in  the 
number  of  people  employed,  the  low 
point  being,  as  already  stated,  in 
July,  the  corresponding  high  point  in 
October.  The  whole  of  the  year  1922 
shows  a  continuous  increase  acceler- 
ated in  the  past  three  months.  The 
revival  of  business  conditions  in  this 
as  in  other  plants  is  indicated  by  the 
fact  that  the  period  here  considered 
ends  with  twenty  per  cent  more  em- 
ployed than  at  the  beginning — ^an 
increase  which  is  largely  the  gain  of 
the  last  five  months. 

Firms  Number  6,  Number  7,  Number 
10  and  Number  11 

These  firms  belong  to  the  metal 
group.  Firm  No.  7  makes  a  large 
product,  constructed  wholly  to  order. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  undertake 
any  manufacture  directly,  except  for 
actual  specifications.  Firm  No.  11 
makes  a  large  proportion  of  order 
work,  but  supplies  in  addition  stand- 
ard products  of  world  wide  use  and 
sale.  Firm  No.  6  makes  a  product 
sold  only  to  manufacturers.  Between 
January  and  September,  1921,  firm 
No.  6  was  reduced  almost  by  half  and 
since  November  there  has  been  a 
slight  increase,   most  of  which  took 


place  in  March,  1922.  Firm  No.  7  has 
had  to  reduce  both  absolutely  and 
relatively  more  than  any  other  of  the 
firms  cited.  By  August,  1921,  half 
the  number  of  employees  at  work  in 
January  had  been  dropped  from  the 
roll.  By  March,  1922  there  were 
one  fourth  as  many  persons  at  work 
as  there  were  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year  1921.  The  greatest  decreases 
were  lay  offs  of  July  and  August.  If 
one  were  to  contrast  the  two  firms  of 
the  most  different  production  condi- 
tions it  would  be  represented  by  firms 
No.  7  and  24.  No.  24  increased  by 
leaps  and  bounds,  firm  No.  7  decreased 
in  much  the  same  way  and  in  similar 
proportions.  Firm  No.  11  ended  the 
quarter  January-March,  1922  with 
about  half  the  number  of  persons  at 
work  employed  in  January,  1921. 
The  greatest  decreases  of  the  year  were 
in  August  and  September.  It  thus 
lags  a  few  months  in  this  decrease 
behind  firm  No.  7,  for  which  it  sup- 
plies a  necessary'  auxiliary  product. 
Its  ratio  of  decrease  has  been  about 
one  half  of  that  of  firm  No.  7.  The 
last  firm  to  be  considered  in  this  group 
is  No.  10.  The  difficulty  of  production 
in  the  first  half  year  of  1921  caused  a 
drop  in  the  number  of  employees  of 
almost  two-thirds.  Production  readjust- 
ments and  the  development  of  the  last 
months  have  increased  the  payroll  above 
the  normal  pre-war  production  point. 

The  present  condition  of  firms  who 
joined  after  the  middle  of  the  year  1921 
is  omitted  from  special  description, 
since  the  p>eriod  covered  is  too  short 
to  make  generalization  possible. 

Detailed  figures  are  nowhere  given 
to  bring  out  the  general  spotty  char- 
acter of  manufacture.  It  will,  there- 
fore, be  important  wherever  com- 
parisons are  later  made  in  rates  of 
turnover,  to  review  carefully  these 
differences  in  production  conditions. 


188 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


189 


II— COMPARISON  OF  ANNUAL  TURNOVER  RATES 


Attention  has  just  been  directed  to 
the  marked  differences  in  production 
conditions  in  the  various  firms  report- 
ing. Four  firms  had  hea\y  lay  offs 
during  the  year,  but  as  they  occurred 
at  different  times  no  significance  can 
be  attached  to  a  comparison  of  monthly 
total  turnover  percentages,  except 
perhaps  to  furnish  a  partial  description 
of  one  phase  of  this  depression.  Since, 
however,  such  comparisons  are  cur- 
rently made  the  figures  are  given  in 
Table  1  in  the  appendix.  It  may  be 
noted,  in  passing,  that  No.  1,  a  firm  of 
low  turnover  and  stationary  employ- 
ment, had  its  higher  rates  of  turnover 
in  January  and  May  of  1921;  by  Jan- 
uary, 1922,  the  rate  was  again  high  as 
contrasted  with  the  last  six  months  of 
1921  with  a  similar  drop  in  the  months 
following.  Firm  No.  2,  wdth  an  in- 
creasing payroll,  had  its  high  rate  in 
March  of  1921,  and  again  in  April  of 
1922;  later  months  of  1922  drop  back 
to  normal. 

Other  comparisons  will  be  discussed 
in  connection  with  the  relation  be- 
tween total  turnover  percentages  and 
turnover  percentages  omitting  lay 
offs.  When  the  lay  offs  are  subtracted, 
some  striking  resemblances  appear  in 
the  general  movement  of  turnover. 
Table  1  on  the  opposite  page  shows  the 
turnover  less  lay  offs.  The  firms 
considered  fall  into  two  groups.  In 
the  first  group,  which  includes  all  but 
three  firms,  the  turnover  in  1921  was 
upward  from  January  to  April,  and 
downward  with  slight  variations,  until 
the  end  of  the  year,  when  the  upward 
movement,  which  continues  until 
May  of  1922,  began  again.  The  three 
firms  excluded  above  resemble  each 
other  though  they  differ  from  the 
larger  group.  The  highest  turnover 
for  these  firms  occurs  in  the  summer 
and  early  fall  months. 


Considered  individually,  firm  No.  1 
increased  until  May  and  June  and 
decreased  until  December.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1922,  the  rate  was  almost  double 
that  of  any  month  in  the  last  part  of 
1921.  Firm  No.  2  increased  until 
March  of  1921,  and  decreased  each 
month  from  that  time  until  April  and 
May  of  this  year.  Firm  No.  6,  a 
small  plant  of  normally  low  turnover 
reached  its  highest  point  in  May,  1921. 
The  highest  rate  for  firm  No.  7  appears 
in  April  and  May  of  1921.  From  that 
time  each  month  shows  a  lowered 
turnover  until  1922  when  the  exits 
began  to  move  upward  until  a  new 
high  point  was  reached  in  April  and 
May,  1922.  April  and  November 
range  highest  for  firm  No.  10.  For 
this  concern  the  turnover  increased  in 
March,  1922  and  continued  to  rise 
still  higher  in  April  and  May  of  this 
year.  In  a  like  way  firm  No.  11  shows 
a  high  point  in  March,  1921.  It  re- 
sembles the  others  in  that  it  contin- 
ued to  decrease  throughout  1921,  but 
differs  in  that  it  has  remained  low  dur- 
ing 1922.  April,  May  and  June  were 
high  turnover  months  for  firm  No.  24. 
The  movement  was  downward  during 
the  rest  of  the  year. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  smaller 
group  of  three  firms  which  did  not 
follow  the  general  movement.  Firm 
No.  4  shows  a  very  striking  difference 
in  turnover  during  the  summer  months 
of  1921.  The  rate  in  July,  August  and 
September,  with  August  as  a  central 
high  peak,  was  almost  double  that  of 
the  other  months  of  the  year.  It  may 
be  noted  here  that  this  firm  has  fol- 
lowed the  larger  group,  already  dis- 
cussed, in  its  increased  rate  during 
March  and  April,  1922.  April,  as 
well  as  September  and  October,  were 
high  months  for  firm  No.  8.  In  1922 
it  increased  during  March  and  April. 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


191 


i  i 


Firm  No.  15  really  falls  between  the 
two  groups.  It  has  a  high  rate  in 
April  and  again  in  October,  1921. 
Despite  the  fact  that  it  is  a  firm  of  low 
average  turnover,  it  has  followed  other 
firms  in  the  increase  of  March  and 
April  this  year. 

In  considering  the  turnover  with 
lay  offs  omitted,  the  likeness  in  direc- 
tion of  movement  is  more  striking  than 
the  differences.  Whether  community 
influences,  market  conditions  or  sea- 
sonal factors  are  to  be  considered 
dominant  in  shaping  this  likeness,  can 
be  determined  only  after  longer  study. 

Four  separate  charts  are  presented 
on  the  adjoining  page  for  individual 
firms  showing  the  relation  of  the  turn- 
over percentage  when  figured  with  and 
without  lay  offs.  Lest  anyone  mis- 
take the  figures  here  given  for  monthly 
percentages,  statement  of  the  method 
of  computation  is  repeated.  Every- 
where throughout  this  study  calcula- 
tions are  made  on  an  annual  basis,  the 
method  being : 

If  the  figures  cover  terminations  for 
a  four-week  period,  multiply  the 
number  of  terminations  by  13  to  get 
the  number  that  would  occur  during 
the  year  at  the  same  rate.  If  the 
figures  cover  a  five-week  period  mul- 
tiply by  10.4  because  five  weeks  go 
into  the  52  weeks  in  a  vear  ten  and 
four-tenths  times.  If  a  calendar 
month  is  used  multiply  by  twelve. 
Dividing  this  number  by  the  average 
paj^Toll  for  the  month  gives  the  turn- 
over on  a  yearly  basis. 

The  tendency  of  the  two  curves  to 
follow  each  other  is  very  marked  in 
the  case  of  firms  No.  1  and  2.  Firm 
11  has  three  periods  of  lay  offs.  In 
the  first  period,  resignations  followed 
lay  offs  closely,  in  the  later  period  the 
correspondence  is  less  marked.  There 
is  a  general  tendency  for  the  curve  of 
firm  No.  8  to  follow  the  total  turnover 
curve.     The  lay  off  curve  follows  the 


high  points  of  the  total  curve  in  April, 
August  and  September,  and  again  in 
March  and  April,  1922.  The  move- 
ment is  in  the  opposite  direction  in 
October  and  November.  Charts  of 
Turnover  Percentage  Less  Lay  Offs 
are  shown  for  seven  groups  of  firms. 
(Charts  III  and  IV  on  pages  192 
and  193).  A  combined  chart  for  ten 
plants  offers  an  opportunity  to  contrast 
the  separate  firms  with  the  group. 

Summarizing,  one  may  say  that  in 
the  early  months  of  1921  the  tendency 
of  turnover  was  upward,  reaching  its 
highest  point  in  the  individual  firms 
in  the  late  weeks  of  March  or  in  the 
month  of  April.  The  general  down- 
ward movement  from  then  until  De- 
cember is  very  striking.  All  curves 
soared  during  the  early  months  of  the 
year.  June  figures  indicate  that  the 
trend  is  again  downward.  Charts 
V  and  VI  show  the  relation  between  the 
total  turnover  and  turnover  less  lay 
offs  for  the  firms  shown  in  Chart  I. 

Quarterly  Turnover 

The  quarterly  turnover  shows  more 
clearly  the  similarities  already  noted. 
Firms  No.  2  and  No.  11  are  the  only 
ones  in  the  first  group  where  the  April 
to  June  quarter  is  not  the  maximum 
percentage.  Each  of  these  firms  had  a 
high  rate  in  March,  which  placed  the 
average  in  the  first  quarter.  Firms 
No.  4,  No.  8  and  No.  15  fall  in  the 
group  with  its  highest  rate  in  the  sum- 
mer. Four  and  fifteen  have  high 
points  in  the  July  to  September  quar- 
ter. The  variation  from  quarter  to 
quarter  is  not  great  in  firm  No.  8  and 
the  turnover  of  the  iVpril  to  June 
quarter  is  accounted  for  by  the  way  in 
which  resignations  followed  lay  offs  in 
April. 

In  1922  the  general  tendency  for  the 
April  to  June  quarter  is  in  the  direc- 
tion of  higher  less  lay  off  rates.  The 
period  covered  is  not  long  enough  for 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

TABLE  2— Turnover  Less  Lay  Offs— Percentages 
January,   1921  to  June,  1922 


1921  Q 

uarters 

1922  Quarters 

Firm  Number 

Jan.-March 

April-June 

July-Sept. 

Oct.-Dee. 

Jan.-March 

April-June 

1      

16  8 
69  7 
19  8 
25  6 
20.4 
57  1 
48.4 

34  0 
94  9 

9  9 
110  2 

26  6 
48  6 
30.8 
31.8 
25  9 
75  5 
44  0 

50  9 
66  1 

19  0 

222.2 

13  4 
43.0 
20  0 
66  8 
6  5 
50  3 
39  6 

47  0 
55  0 

24  4 

181  8 

8.3 
33  9 

9.8 
30.2 

9  4 
37.0 
41  2 
21  3 
49  4 
33.1 

21  8 

120  7^ 

33.4 

126  1 

18.9 

31.8 

10  9 

36  6 

9.1 

57.8 

47  0 

64.1 

58.6 

31.0 

70.5 

27.2 

23  9 

88  1 

68  7 

189.2 

10.3 

76  2 

160.4 

16  3 

2            .... 

46  3 

3 

18.2 

4        

79  2 

6        

6  45 

7    

83.4 

8 

140  0 

9      

165  9 

10            

140  7 

11 

53  1 

12           

92  9 

14 

89.6 

15 

128  1 

16 

17 

18 

121.8 

47.6 

239  2 

19 

21    

23.2 
179  7 

24 

207  5 

•  Figures  for  November  and  December  only. 

any  one  to  say  with  confidence  that 
turnover  curves  for  firms  differing 
widelv  in  nature  of  work,  character  of 
men,  and  ideals  of  management  will 


tend  to  move  synchronously  over  a 
more  extended  period.  For  the 
months  considered,  a  tendency  to  like 
movement  is  undoubted. 


Ill— ]VL\IN  DIVISIONS  OF  TURN0\T:R 


Resignations,  Discharges  and 
Lay  Offs 

The  main  divisions  into  which  turn- 
over is  commonly  grouped  are  Resig- 
nations, Discharges  and  Lay  Offs. 
All  exits  made  voluntarily  by  the  em- 
ployee are  classified  under  resigna- 
tions. Even  with  the  greatest  care  in 
recording,  it  is  likely  that  some  items 
in  this  classification  are  voluntary  only 
in  appearance.  A  worker  hearing  of 
a  general  lay  off  may  resign  to  avoid 


being  included  in  the  group,  or,  having 
broken  some  rule,  may  anticipate  a  dis- 
charge. Frequently  a  worker  resigns 
because  he  was  transferred  to  a  job 
which  he  regarded  as  unpleasant.  It 
would  be  impossible  to  separate  cases 
such  as  the  latter  from  discharges. 
Again  the  family  may  be  forced  to 
move  because  other  members  have 
secured  work  at  a  distance.  The 
resignation  "to  move  with  the  family" 
may  be  the  result  of  slack  work  in  the 
area  which  affected  home  life,  whil^ 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


197 


the  plant  from  which  the  exit  resigned 
has  not  actually  been  affected.     All 
n  these    qualifications    should    be    con- 

sidered whenever  anyone  stresses  the 
voluntary  character  of  turnover. 

Lay  Offs 

Since,  owing  to  the  depression  situa- 
tion, lay  offs  affected  industrial  morale 
most,  that  group  will  be  considered 
first,  even  though  it  had  not  the  high- 
est coefficient  in  the  main  divisions  of 
turnover.  In  the  reporting  of  turn- 
over it  would  be  very  desirable  if  some 
^  subdivision   could   be    secured   under 

>         "laid  off."     Lay  offs  due  to  business 

'  conditions  include  cancellation  of 
orders,  seasonal  fluctuations,  tem- 
porary work  and  the  series  of  factors 
commonly  lumped  under  "industrial 
depression."  Very  different  is  the 
group  of  specific  reasons  relating  to 
manufacturing  conditions,  such  as: 
changes  in  industrial  processes,  dis- 
continuance  of  whole  departments, 
^  breakdowns  in  equipment,  shortage  of 
materials  and  strikes  and  lockouts. 
All  these  are  now  being  reported  as 
"lay  offs,"  "slack,"  or  "no  work," 
with  no  specific  statement  of  reason. 
In  time  more  detailed  analysis  under 
this  heading  should  be  possible.  A 
start  has  been  made  this  year.  From 
a  few  firms,  careful  reasons  were  se- 
cured. No  analysis  is  given  of  such 
detail  as  it  is  specific  in  only  a  small 
number  of  cases. 
The  significant  lay  offs  were  in  the 

^  metal  and  iron  working  products. 
Textiles  and  clothing  were  fairly 
steady,  while  chemicals  fluctuated 
without  any  long  period  of  inactivity. 

Firm  No.  2  was  highest  in  March, 
1921  and  April,  1922.  The  latter 
"lay  off"  was  halted  by  the  strikes 
in  the  New  England  textile  regions, 
which  diverted  orders  to  this  market. 

\  No.  4  had  its  heaviest  lay  offs  in  Oc- 
tober, while  No.  6  started  to  lay  off 


in  March.  Three  higher  lay  off  peaks 
occur  in  April,  June  and  August. 
The  year  for  this  organization  was 
thus  characterized  by  lay  offs  at  inter- 
vals of  two  months,  until  October  when 
the  industry  began  to  revive.  The 
lay  off  of  firm  No.  7  ranged  from  16 
per  cent  in  February,  the  lowest  month 
of  the  year,  to  408  per  cent  in  August. 
Five  months  of  1921  and  one  month 
of  1922  were  above  100  per  cent  of 
turnover  for  lay  offs  alone.  No.  8  and 
No.  10  were  highest  in  April,  No.  11 
in  August,  and  No.  15  in  November. 
Firm  No.  24  did  not  begin  any  con- 
siderable lay  offs  until  the  end  of  the 
year,  when  a  sudden  change  in  style 
affected  the  likelihood  of  the  move- 
ment of  finished  stock  on  hand.  Con- 
sidered by  themselves,  the  lay  offs 
present  only  unrelated  phenomena, 
useful  in  describing  the  down  wave  of 
the  depression  in  this  area,  but  not 
especially  useful  in  interpreting  turn- 
over. It  is  only  when  the  lay  offs  are 
considered  in  relation  to  resignations 
and  discharges  that  the  comparison 
becomes  important. 

"Lay  Offs"  in  Relation  to  Resig- 
nations AND  Discharges 

Do  men  hold  onto  their  jobs  in  a 
lay  off  period?  Do  they  try  to  antic- 
ipate lay  offs,  or  do  they  become 
restless  and  look  about  for  other  posi- 
tions after  a  heavy  lay  off?  Is  it  the 
best  men  who  hold  onto  their  jobs  or 
is  there  a  gradual  melting  away  of  an 
organization  during  the  long  drawn 
out  downward  swing  of  business  ac- 
tivity? These  are  questions  worth 
asking  in  the  light  of  the  correspond- 
ence of  high  peaks  of  resignations  with 
high  peaks  of  lay  offs.  The  answer 
cannot  be  deduced  from  the  figures. 
Attention  would  be  necessary  to  the 
workers  left  on  the  roll  as  well  as  to 
those  who  departed.  It  may  be  that 
the  likenesses  here  found  would  not 


!■•  ■'     U   .^i« 


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A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


190 


occur  in  a  more  stable  period.  When 
all  industries  are  unstable  and  espe- 
cially when  part-time  is  being  worked, 
it  is  possible  that  the  cause  operating 
is  really  slack  work  which  shows  itself 
in  resignations.  It  may  be  that  there 
is  a  permanent  connection  between 
resignations  and  discharges.  Occa- 
sionally there  is  reported  a  resignation 
because  a  friend  or  relative  has  been 
discharged.  The  importance  of  such 
relationships  can  be  discovered  only 
when  data  are  available  covering  a 
sufficient  period  to  make  possible 
correlations  between  reasons. 

The  monthly  turnover  for  Lay  Offs 
by  firms  is  given  in  Table  2  in  the 
appendix;  similar  figures  for  Resigna- 
tions are  shown  in  Table  No.  3  on 
page  198. 

Discharges  • 

The  percentage  of  men  discharged 
monthly  is  not  significant  for  the  small 


firms.  The  whole  discharge  turnover 
of  one  firm  is  made  up  of  seventeen 
men  dropped  in  April,  whereas  no  more 
than  two  men  were  discharged  in  any 
other  month  in  the  year.  Quarterly 
rates  are,  therefore,  given  instead  of 
monthly  comparisons.  In  a  period  of 
lay  offs,  it  would  be  likely  for  the  dis- 
charge rates  to  rise  since  inexperienced 
workers  and  infringement  of  rules  of 
discipline  would  be  less  leniently  dealt 
with.  At  the  same  time  there  is  an 
opportunity  to  drop  incompetent  work- 
ers among  the  persons  laid  off,  thus 
tending  to  lower  the  turnover  for  dis- 
charges. 

The  discharge  rates  of  turnover  by 
firms  quarterly  were  as  shown  in  table 
No.  4  below. 

It  will  be  seen  that  there  is  no  uni- 
formity among  firms  in  the  quarter  in 
which  the  high  rate  falls.  Firms  No. 
2,  10  and  24  have  the  highest  dis- 
charge rates  in  the  months  when  the 


TABLE  4 — Discharge  Turnover  Percentages 
January,  1921  to  June,  1922 


Firm  Number 

1921  Quarters 

1922  Quarters 

Jan -March 

April-June 

July-Sept. 

Oct.-Dec. 

Jan  .-March 

April-June 

1 

0.6 

11.7 

4.3 

3.9 

8.3 

12.4 

19.3 

2.0 
21.2 

•    •    •   • 

4.4 

10.7 

0.7 
5.4 
0.9 
5.9 
3.2 
11.4 
14  0 

1.7 
12.1 

2.4 

■   •   •   • 

26.7 

1.0 
10.2 

3.8 
13.0 

4.4 

4.5 
10.8 

5.0 
6.8 

6.1 
30.5 

0.8 
8.3 
1.0 
4.0 
0.0 
19 
4.6 
11.5 
18.9 
2.6 

■   •   •   • 

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8.4^ 

18.2 

4.1 

5.9 

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6  6 

0.0 

4  6 

16  9 

21.0 

17.2 

1.7 

19.7 

4.1 

6  0 

27.7 

11.3 

26.3 

1.1 

7.7 

15  3 

2  1 

2 

7.5 

S  2 

3 

4 

11.8 
2  15 
5.9 

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6 

7 

8 

9 

28.0 
45.5 

7.0 
18.5 
13  2 

5  9 
46.3 

6.5 
25.4 

4.0 

4.0 
12.1 

10 

11 

12 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

21 

24 

*  February  and  March,  1922. 

^  November  and  December,  1921. 


A^-^ 


ft 


II 


200 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


payroll  was  being  increased  most 
rapidly.  It  would  be  very  desirable 
to  be  able  to  distinguish  discharges 
owing  to  inabihty  to  learn  the  work  or 
incompetence  after  the  work  is  learned, 
from  discharges  due  to  socially  unde- 
sirable qualities  or  to  infraction  of 
rules.  While  employment  managers 
report  in  general  terms,  "unreliable," 
"dissatisfaction,"  etc.,  it  will  be  impos- 
sible to  separate  discharges  sufficiently 
to  distinguish  between  disciplinary 
reasons,  and  reasons  connected  with 
training  and  skill. 

Particular  attention  is  called  to  the 
low  discharge  rate.  In  interpreting 
the  table  bear  in  mind  that  the  com- 
putation is  on  an  annual  basis.  Note 
that  in  the  case  of  almost  half  the 
firms  the  annual  discharge  rate  is 
below  five  per  cent,  showing  in  firms 
where  selection  and  training  are  well 
conducted  how  very  low  the  number  of 
dismissals  can  be  kept.  Two  firms  in 
this  group  each  employ  3,500  to  4,000 
employees,  others  have  smaller  pay- 
rolls. Even  a  firm  that  is  increasing 
its  payroll  is  clearly  out  of  step  with 
others  when  its  discharge  rate  soars 


above  an  annual  percentage  of  fifteen. 
Of  course,  if  discharges  were  the  usual 
instead  of  an  occasional  occurrence  in 
departments,  workmen  would  not 
show  the  humiliation  that  they  do 
when  a  discharge  occurs.  This  point 
needs  to  be  emphasized  because  of  the 
surprise  expressed  by  non-business 
audiences  wherever  the  work  of  the 
department  was  discussed.  In  chap- 
ter VII  of  this  part  of  the  study  Chart 
No.  XIII  (see  page  219)  is  shown  com- 
paring the  turnover  of  public  and  pri- 
vate employment.  The  closeness  with 
which  these  curves  approximate  each 
other  was  a  matter  of  surprise  to  in- 
vestigators especially  in  view  of  the 
differences  in  the  coefficient  of  turn- 
over for  resignations  in  the  two  groups. 
More  striking  is  the  difference  in 
length  of  service  of  discharges.  It 
would  seem  as  if  the  one  department 
with  high  turnover  in  public  employ- 
ment used  discharge  as  a  means  of 
selection  whereas  in  private  industries, 
discharges  in  so  far  as  one  can  go 
by  the  reasons  assigned,  were  more 
closely  related  to  the  character  of  the 
worker. 


TV—RESIGNATIONS 


Because  of  the  importance  of  vol- 
untary^ exits  more  attention  has  been 
given  by  the  Department  to  securing 
accuracy  in  the  reporting  and  classi- 
fication of  major  reasons  under  resig- 
nations than  to  the  other  two  main 
divisions.  From  the  resignation  turn- 
over percentages  given  monthly  in 
Table  3,  printed  above,  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  demarcation  of  firms  into 
those  with  their  highest  rate  of  the 
year  in  the  spring  months,  and  those 
with  the  highest  rate  in  the  summer  and 
early  fall  months,  was  a  division  de- 
pendent   upon    resignations.     In    the 


quarterly  Table  No.  5,  printed  on 
page  202,  the  high  points  of  the  spring 
months,  as  earlier  noted  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  turnover  less  lay  offs,  appear 
far  more  clearly  than  in  the  monthly 
turnover  figures  of  Table  3,  page  198. 
This  would  be  inevitable  unless  dis- 
charges had  been  high  enough  to 
outweigh  the  influences  making  for 
uniformity  in  the  resignations  of  em- 
ployees from  plants. 

Resignations    By    Major   Reasons 

Analysis  of  resignations  by  major 
reasons   shows   some   interesting  con- 


/ 


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A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


CHART  VII 


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The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

TABLE  5— Resignation  Turnover  Percentages 
January,  1921  to  June,  1922 


1921  Quarters 

1922  Quarters 

Firm  Number 

Jan. -March 

April-June 

July-Sept. 

Oct.-Dcc. 

Jan.-March 

April-June 

1    

16.2 
58.0 
15  5 
21.7 
12  1 
44  7 
29  I 

32  0 
73.7 

5  5 
99.5 

25.9 
43  2 

29  9 
25.9 

22.7 
64  1 

30  0 

49  2 
54  0 

16  6 
195  5 

12.4 
32.8 
16.2 
53  8 
2.1 
45  8 
28.8 

42  0 

48.2 

18.3 
151.3 

7.5 

25  6 

8  8 

26  2 

9  4 
35  1 
36.6 

9.8 
30  5 
30  5 

17  2 
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25.0* 

107.9 

14.8 
25.9 

9  4 
30.0 

9.1 
53.2 
30.1 
43.1 
41.4 
29  3 
50  8 
23.1 
17.9 
60.4 
57.4 
162.9 

9.2 

68  5 

145  1 

14.2 

2 

38.8 

S    

15  0 

4 

67.4 

6      

4.3 

7    

81.5 

8    

114.5 

9 

137.9 

10 

105  2 

11 

46  1 

12 

74  4 

14 

76  4 

15        

122.2 

16        

75.1 

17 

41.1 

18 

213.8 

19 

19.2 

21 

171.8 

24        

195.4 

*  November  and  December,  1921. 

trasts  among  firms.  The  nine  major 
reasons  already  discussed  in  the  section 
on  standardization  are  the  result  of 
the  breaking  up  of  the  coefficient  of 
resignations. 

For  the  year  1921,  two  tables  are 
here  given,  grouping  the  percentages 
of  exits  for  the  whole  year  under  the 
main  divisions  of  turnover  and  sub- 
dividing resignations  into  major  rea- 
sons. 

Since  these  tables  are  perhaps  the 
most  important  and  most  significant 
of   the   study,   both   arrangements   of 


the  data  are  shown  in  the  following 
tables,  purely  for  purposes  of  compari- 
son between  the  different  groups. 

As  already  stated,  much  care  must 
be  used  in  drawing  conclusions  in  this 
period.  In  the  first  place,  the  study 
was  not  undertaken  until  the  middle 
of  the  depression.  There  is,  therefore, 
no  data  to  show  the  relation  between 
lay  offs  and  resignations  in  the  period 
before  workers  became  demoralized 
by  the  uncertainty  of  the  continuance 
of  employment.  Also  it  is  possible 
that   in   the   beginning   of   a   lay   off 


Chart  VII  is  a  bar  diagram  of  the  percentage  of  exits  by  main  divisions  in  nineteen  firms.  It  covers 
the  first  two  quarters  of  1922.  The  shifting  of  all  bars  to  the  right  in  the  second  quarter  of  1922 
shows  the  increase  in  turnover  in  all  plants,  a  shift  which  is  accounted  for  by  the  increase  in  resigna- 
tions, as  shown  in  the  light  shaded  area.  The  chart  brings  out  in  a  striking  way  the  change  in  busi- 
ness conditions  in  the  past  six  months.  The  heavy  black  cross-hatching  in  the  bar  diagram  indicates 
lay  offs.  By  the  second  quarter  of  1922,  these  black  areas,  in  most  firms,  either  disappear  or  are 
markedly  shortened.  Resignations  thus  made  up  for  the  smaller  number  of  lay  offs,  and  brought 
the  total  turnover  well  above  that  of  the  first  quarter.  Analysis  of  occupations  shows  that  the 
increase  in  turnover  in  this  quarter  was  occasioned  mainly  by  mobility  in  the  "laborer"  group. 


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A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


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period  before  wages  have  been  lowered 
materially  positions  are  more  worth 
holding  and,  therefore,  workers  are 
not  as  ready  to  hunt  about  for  other 
work  as  in  a  later  period  when  there 
is  little  information  concerning  the 
rate  of  earning  elsewhere.  Besides, 
the  number  on  the  payroll  fails  to 
take  account  of  the  fact  that  many 
firms  are  working  part-time  and  em- 
ployees resign  from  a  job  where  the 
earnings  are  really  low  and  irregular. 
Much  then  that  is  considered  under 
the  heading  of  voluntary  resignations 
is  really  due  to  shortage  of  work  and 
is  different,  in  degree  only,  from  the 
actual  "lay  offs'*  for  slackness  of  work. 
This  will  appear  in  the  following  treat- 
ment dealing  with  turnover  percentage 
by  major  reasons. 

By  referring  to  Table  5,  in  the  per- 
centage of  major  reasons,  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  actual  turnover  of  firms 
varies  from  22.0  per  cent  in  the  case 
of  firm  No.  1,  to  183  per  cent  in  the 
case  of  firm  No.  24.  In  the  second 
arrangement  of  this  data  in  Table  6, 
these  percentages  are  considered  as  100 
in  order  to  bring  out  more  clearly  the 
proportion  of  the  percentage  that  falls 
under  each  detail. 

Under  "Wages"  are  grouped  all 
cases  of  exits  due  to  dissatisfaction 
with  wages  or  with  earnings,  com- 
plaints concerning  uncertainty  of  the 
amount  to  be  paid,  as  well  as  dis- 
approval of  the  method  of  computing 
pay  or  of  actually  paying  off.  Looking 
at  the  table,  it  will  be  seen  that  firms 
No.  10  and  No.  24  have  about  one- 
fifth  of  their  exits  in  the  item  "Wages." 
Despite  the  likeness  in  percentage,  the 
wage  problem  is  very  different  at  the 
two  places.  The  one  is  a  piece  work 
industry,  where  operations  are  depend- 
ent upon  the  sequence  of  preceding 
operations.  In  the  language  of  the 
shop,  workers  leave  because  they  "  Can 
not  make  out."    This  may  mean  that 


the  employee  has  not  stayed  long 
enough  to  get  up  an  adequate  rate  of 
piecework  speed,  or  it  may  mean  that 
there  are  delays  in  the  routing  of  work. 
Whenever  such  delay  continues  over 
a  period  long  enough  to  affect  the  total 
weekly  earnings,  the  turnover  is  af- 
fected, despite  the  fact  that  the  plant 
is  paying  a  rate  well  above  the  going 
rate.  At  the  other  concern  the  prob- 
lem, is  more  definitely  related  to  the 
handling  of  small  orders  and  the  gen- 
eral market  rate.  In  this  period  of 
manufacture  there  has  been  much 
working  to  contract  on  small  orders, 
which  had  to  be  run  through  to  keep 
equipment  busy.  This  variety  of 
work  makes  delays. 

The  heading  summarized  "Working 
Conditions"  comprises  all  cases  of 
dissatisfaction  with  the  nature  of  the 
job  or  with  conditions  of  work.  This 
would  include  not  only  cases  of  wet  or 
heavy  or  dusty  or  dangerous  work, 
but  also  cases  concerning  eye  strain, 
machines  unadjusted  in  height  and 
unpleasant  odors  or  poisonous  fumes. 
This  will  account  for  the  two  firms, 
which  show  high  turnover  for  working 
conditions,  despite  a  very  slight  com- 
plaint about  wages. 

There  is  little  complaint  about  hours 
at  any  of  the  plants.  Occasionally  a 
resignation  occurs  because  of  night 
work,  more  rarely  because  of  overtime. 

Under  "Labor  Policy"  are  grouped, 
not  only  strikes  and  unadjusted  griev- 
ances, but  also  dislike  of  the  foreman 
and  inability  to  see  an  opportunity  for 
advancement.  The  heading  used  for 
brevity  is  somewhat  misleading  since 
all  exits  for  causes  related  to  industrial 
organization  and  management  are 
classed  in  this  way.  It  is  not  easy  to 
separate  the  vague  objections  to  work- 
ing conditions  from  those  due  to  refusal 
of  transfer  or  to  inability  of  the  firm  to 
plan  work  in  such  a  way  that  the 
preferences  and  attainments  of  certain 


i 


i206  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

employees  will  be  taken  account  of.  reasons  are  grouped  in  the  summary  as 
Even    with    all    these    difficulties    of  reasons  connected  with  the  job,  in  dis- 
classification  it  is  encouraging  to  see  tinction    from    social    and    physical 
that   the   percentages   under   working  reasons,  now  to  be  considered.     Some 
conditions   do   run   parallel   with   the  items  under  '*Work  Elsewhere"  show 
type   of   manufacture.     Firms   No.   4  a  desire  of  employees  to  attain  higher 
and  No.   15  were  earlier  grouped  as  standing  in  the  trade.     To  illustrate 
having  some  turnover  factors  different  this,  detailed  reasons  under  this  item 
from  others  in  the  group.     These  are  are  given  for  a  hosiery  industry  making 
plants  dealing  with  chemicals.     This  a   non-fashioned   product.     Whatever 
involves  gas  fumes  and  more  or  less  methods  of  personnel  employed  at  this 
sloppy  work.     In  firm  No.  24  there  is  concern,  the  fact  will  remain  that  full- 
one  humid  department  though  it  can  fashioned  hosiery  stands  high  in  the 
not  be  said  that  turnover  under  this  estimation  of  the  buyer   and   of  the 
item  is  determined  by  this  department,  trade;  some  of  this  estimation  attaches 
Many  complaints  under  "Labor  Policy"  to  operation.     It  is  inevitable  that  in 
are   really   questions   of    sequence    of  a    slack    period    some    full-fashioned 
operations  and  are,  therefore,  related  workers     take     non-fashioned     work, 
to  earnings.  Their  return  to  their  own  trade  ac- 
As    already    stated,    "Work    Else-  counts  for  some  of  the  items  listed 
where"  is  concerned  with  the  relation  below: 

of  the  employee  to  other  plants.     It  ^^^^  ^^^  Leaving -1921 

includes  exits  from  the  plants  wherever  Number  of 

a  definite  statement  is  made  that  the  Work  elsewhere  Exits 

employee    goes   to    another    firm    for        Job  elsewhere 5 

better    pay,    or    advancement,    or    is        Better  position 19 

going  into  business  for  himself  ■  Among         ^^HoXt^er  e,npIoyer ! :  i : ! !  l      1 

the  younger  workers,  are  found  those      g^^  ^^  f^u  fashioned 16 

leaving  to  go  to  school,  to  learn  a  trade         To  full  fashioned  looping 1 

or  to  attend  classes  of  any  sort.  To  learn  full  fashioned  trade 1 

"  Work  Elsewhere  "  covers  up  pride.      To  Bell  Telephone  Co l 

J  T.    „ -ii       To  take  up  nursing 1 

reticence  and  many  excuses^    It  will     ^^  ^^^^^  ^^^^^^^ j 

take  a  five  year  reporting  of  exits  to      Returned  to  school 9 

discover    how    much    of    the    reasons     Going  into  business 1 

that  fall  under  this  heading  really  refer     To  be  governess J^ 

to   the  scale   of   promotion   and   how  ^^^^^  ^^^ 

many    are    related    to    dissatisfaction 

with  factory  work  or  with  surround-  It  will  be  noticed  that  over  16  per 
ings.  There  is  certain  to  be  consid-  cent  (eighteen  persons)  of  the  em- 
erable  relation  between  items  consid-  ployees  in  this  classification  left  to 
ered  earlier  as  dissatisfaction  with  enter  the  full-fashioned  trade.  It  is 
wages,  and  perhaps  some  relation  impossible  to  say  how  many  more 
between  "Working  Conditions,"  and  in  the  items  "former  positions"  and 
this  group.  Since  there  is  no  certainty  "  better  positions  "  were  actually  going 
concerning  the  demarcation,  the  five  to  full  fashioned  plants.  This  reason 
items  already  considered  under  major     for  shifting  is  of  course  well  under- 

,    ,  ,        stood  in  the  trade  and  does  not  prevent 

1  Fifty-one  employees  left  in  the  later  months  experienced  workers 

of   1921   specifically  "to  go  into  business  for       ^"^  liimifo  ^   •     ,  i 

themselves."  when  a  rush  IS  felt. 


h 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


207 


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A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


209 


Under  "Community  and  Family'* 
reasons  are  such  items  as:  sickness  in 
family,  needed  at  home,  housing  con- 
ditions, lack  of  acquaintances,  and 
distance  of  the  factory  from  the  work- 
er's home.  These  are  reasons  which 
in  special  cases  may  be  pressing  enough 
to  demand  attention  by  the  firm,  but 
which  in  the  long  run  really  are  matters 
of  community  interest.  This  item  is 
highest  in  firms  No.  2  and  No.  24, 
which  are  firms  with  the  largest  pro- 
portion of  women  and  especially  mar- 
ried women,  where  the  item  "sickness 
in  family"  and  "needed  at  home" 
bulk  large. 

Personal  reasons  are  primarily  mar- 
riage. A  few  come  under  wanderlust; 
"leaving  the  city"  accounts  for  the 
personal  items  at  No.  11,  where  no 
women  are  employed  and  the  7.9  per 
cent  under  personal  reasons  is  wholly 
made  up  of  224  men  who  left  the  city. 
Occasionally  leave  of  absence,  to  ac- 
»  company  a  friend,  or  to  visit  relatives 
appears  under  personal  items.     It  will 


readily  be  seen  that  in  such  a  case 
men  are  merely  anticipating  a  lay  off, 
and  the  voluntary  or  personal  char- 
acter of  their  departure  should  not  be 
overemphasized. 

Under  "physical  reasons"  it  has 
been  impossible  to  separate  ill-health 
due  to  factory  work  from  ill-health  due 
to  other  causes.  In  fact,  while  the 
reporting  has  been  thoroughly  de- 
tailed, there  are  no  sub-classifications, 
which  can  be  studied  under  this  head- 
ing. For  two  reasons,  death  has  been 
included  in  this  group,  though  it 
technically  may  not  be  considered  a 
resignation.  It  was  amusing  to  find 
two  of  the  plants  classifying  death 
under  "dissatisfied."  In  the  first 
place,  the  percentage  of  exits  due  to 
deaths  in  most  organizations  is  very 
small.  In  the  second  place  pure  acci- 
dent determines  whether  the  person 
will  be  listed  by  the  company  as  ill  or 
dead.  If  by  chance  death  occurs 
before  the  weekly  clearing  of  the  pay- 
roll, the  death  will  be  reported  on  the 


TABLE  8— Group  of  Eleven  Firms  Total  Turnover  of  Exits" 

Major  Reasons  for  Leaving 


* 

1921 
January  to  December 

1922 
Janu.vry  to  June 

Firm  No. 

Total 

Turnover 

Percentage 

Job 

Social  Life 

Total 

Turnover 

Percentage 

Job 

Social  Life 

1 

22.0 
59.8 
35.7 
63.6 
65.5 

145.0 
95.7 

140.1 

110.8 
41.5 

183.0 

5.84 
11.6 

7.4 
18.8 

9.5 
10.9 
16.5 
28.2 
35.0 
11.9 
94.1 

9.6 

21.7 
.2 

13.9 
3.1 
7.8 
6.1 
8.4 

13.5 
2.3 

37.9 

21.3 

53.4 

18.5 

63.9 

99.9 
130.0      . 
105.8 
123.8 

59.7 

92.2 
209.6 

7  5 
11  3 

5.3 
34  2 
11.1 
20.0 
35.5 
39.5 
24.3 
66.9 
115.3 

6.9 

2 

18.4 

3 

4.7 

4    

17.1 

6 

55.5 

7 

6.4 

8    

6.9 

10    

26.5 

11      

7.8 

15        

8.1 

24    

46.7 

\  *  Resignations  have  been  broken  up  into  reasons  connected  with  the  job  and  reasons  connected  with 

social  life.     The  unknown  reasons  should  be  added  in  order  to  secure  the  total  reaignationa  given 
ifl  Table  6. 
16 


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210 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


company*s  record,  whereas  if  death 
occurs  several  days  later,  the  initial 
cause  of  leaving,  or  sickness,  will  be 
given.  It  will  be  seen  that  physical 
reasons  range  from  2.1  per  cent  in 
firms  No.  6,  No.  10  and  No.  15  to  13.4 
in  firm  No.  4.  Taking  the  table  with 
percentages  on  a  100  per  cent  basis 
and  grouping  resignations  into  reasons 
connected  with  the  job  and  reasons 
connected  with  health  and  social  life, 
one  finds  the  percentages  in  Table  10. 
Charts  VlII  and  IX  show  major 
reasons  for  turnover  for  the  year  1921 
and  1922.  The  contrast  between  the 
six  firms  is  very'  striking.  Last  year 
firm  No.  2  had  practically  an  equal 
distribution  of  exits  among  all  causes 
with  the  exception  of  the  wage  division, 


where  few  complaints  fall,  a  condition 
ciuite  different  from  that  of  No.  24. 
A  great  proportion  of  the  employees 
of  firm  No.  1  leave  to  take  "work  else- 
where," a  factor  which  is  important 
also  in  the  turnover  of  No.  8  and  No.  8. 
In  the  first  six  months  of  1922  firm 
No.  2  showed  a  trend  simihir  to  that  of 
1921,  the  subdivisions  were  practically 
even  with  the  exception  of  the  almost 
negligible  wage  group  and  a  decrease 
the    "unknown."     Firm    No.    24 


m 


suffered  from  irregularities  in  wages 
and  lost  many  workers  because  of 
opportunities  to  work  elsewhere.  The 
latter  cause  affected  No.  11  heavily 
while  working  conditions  in  No.  15 
caused  the  loss  of  a  large  proportion 
of  employees. 


V— LENGTH  OF  SERVICE 


The  distribution  of  the  length  of 
service  of  exits  gives  some  of  the  most 
important  facts  in  connection  with  this 
study.  The  following  tables  show  not 
only  the  percentage  of  total  exits  in 
each  length  of  service  group  but  also 
the  distribution  of  that  percentage 
among  "resignations,"  "discharges" 
and  "lay  offs." 

As  already  stated  firms  No.  1,  No.  3 
and  No.  6  were  not  hiring  employees 
and,  therefore,  had  no  workers  in  short 
service  groups.  Firm  No.  24  quad- 
rupled its  employees  during  the  year. 
In  considering  No.  24  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  number  of  employees 
on  the  payroll  were  more  than  doubled 
between  Januarv  and  March,  1921. 
It  is  evident  that  in  such  a  period  of 
rapid  rise,  any  firm  experiences  its 
greatest  turnover  among  new  employ- 
ees who  do  not  stay  long  enough  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  plant  or 
the  processes.  The  stream  of  en- 
trances and  exits  during  the  first  week 


of  service  makes  a  difficult  problem, 
in  rapidly  increasing  a  force.  This  is 
particularly  likely  to  be  true  where  a 
plant  is  surrounded,  as  is  this  one,  by 
j)lants  of  similar  type  competing  both 
in  matters  of  labor  supply  and  wages. 
Even  with  this  growth  it  is  clear  that 
to  have  78  per  cent  of  a  firm's  exits 
with  a  duration  of  continuous  service 
of  less  than  three  months,  is  a  costly 
item  that  would  repay  expenditure 
for  training  and  careful  follow-up. 
P^irm  No.  8  retains  e!n])loyecs  during 
the  early  months,  but  loses  an  ab- 
normally high  number  in  the  second 
and  third  months  of  service. 

The  most  salient  single  fact  in  the 
comparison  of  length  of  service  by  main 
reasons  is  the  recurrence  of  high  resig- 
nation percentages  in  the  same  length 
of  service  period  in  which  are  found 
high  lay  oft's.  In  the  case  of  No.  1  and 
No.  10  this  occurs  in  the  "over  2  years 
group;"  for  Nos.  2,  8  and  24  in  the 
"one  and  under  three  months"  service 


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i 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


211 


group.  In  the  case  of  firms  No.  8  and 
No.  24  exits  are  negligible  among  em- 
ployees who  have  served  a  year  or 
more.  The  even  distribution  of  resig- 
nations among  all  service  groups  in 
firm  No.  2  is  unusual  and  needs  atten- 
tion in  the  case  of  employees  who  have 
served  six  months  or  more. 

The  accompanying  chart  contrasts 
the  experiences  of  firms.  It  will  be 
seen  that  there  is  more  variation  in 
respect  to  the  experiences  of  compa- 
nies in  this  comparison  than  in  any 
other  made  in  this  study. 

It  would  be  easy   to  misinterpret 


length  of  service  figures  by  failing  to 
take  into  account  the  continuity  of 
employment  among  employees  who 
remain  at  work.  Besides  after  a  long 
period  when  no  new  employees  are 
being  hired  the  exits  are  certain  to  fall 
in  the  higher  service  groups.  In  any 
company  of  long  standing  with  fairly 
stable  employment,  exits  will  have  a 
longer  record  of  service  than  in  a  new 
or  rapidly  growing  organization. 

The  cumulative  percentage  curs^es 
in  the  upper  section  of  the  page  show 
these  differences  in  the  distance  of  their 
spread  across  the  page.     Firm  No.  1 


TABLE  9 — Length  of  Service  of  Exits* 
1921:  Percentage  of  Total  Exits 


Length  of  Service 


Under  1  week 

1  week  and  under  1 

month 

1  month  and  under  3 

months 

3  months  and  under  C 
months 

6  months  and  under  1 
year 

1  year  and  under  2 
years 

2  years  and  under  3 
years 

8  years  and  under  4 
years 

4  years  and  under  5 
years 

^  5  years  and  under  10 
years 

10  years  and  under  15 
years 

15  years  and  under  20 
years 

20  years  and  over    . 

Unknown 

Total 


Firm  No.  1 


Tot.  Ex. 


0.4 
3.C 
5.7 
5.2 
9.4 

22.0 
9.2 

13.3 
5.G 

10.1 

6.8 

4.8 
3.7 
0.2 


100.0 


Resig, 


0.3 

2.3 

3.4 

2.7 

4.9 

14.1 

6.6 

9.3 

4.3 

8.8 

5.8 

4.5 
3.5 
0.2 


70.7 


Dischg, 


0.0 

0.5 

0.9 

0.8 

0.2 

0.4 

0.0 

0.1 

0.1 

0.1 

0.2 

0.0 
0.1 
0.0 


3.4 


Lay  Off 


0.1 

0.8 

1.4 

1.7 

4.3 

7.5 

2.6 

3.9 

1.2 

1.2 

0.8 

0.3 
0.1 
0.0 


25.9 


Firm  No.  2 


Tot.  Ex. 


8.9 

14.1 

17.4 

9.7 

11.9 

13.2 

5.9 

2.9 

1.3 

1.1 

0.4 

0.5 

0.5 

12.2 


100.0 


Resig. 


7.5 

8.3 

9.3 

6.8 

8.8 

8.9 

4.1 

2.2 

0.7 

0.9 

0.4 

0.3 
0.2 
6.5 


64.9 


Dischg. 


0.8 

2.7 

3.4 

1.3 

1.8 

2.7 

0.7 

0.4 

0.3 

0.1 

0.0 

0.0 
0.0 
0.6 


14.8 


Lay  Off 


0.6 

3.1 

4.7 

1.6 

1.3 

1.6 

1.1 

0.3 

0.3 

0.1 

0.0 

0.2 
0.3 
5.1 


20.3 


*  Note  concerning  all  length  of  service  charts. 

These  charts  were  drawn  from  frequency  tables  without  change  for  cumulative  readings.  Read 
from  upper  limit,  i.e.,  percentage  of  employees  leaving  with  length  of  service  under  two  years,  undei 
three  years,  etc. 


212 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


213 


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4 


has  few  exits  in  early  months.^  The 
steepest  part  of  the  curve  is  that  of 
No.  24  where  94  per  cent  of  the  exits 
have  been  with  the  company  less  than 
one  year.  57.1  per  cent  of  the  em- 
ployees who  resigned  at  firm  No.  1 
during  1921  had  been  with  the  com- 
pany one  year  while  43  per  cent  of 
these  had  been  there  over  two  years. 
Among  the  lay  offs,  22.4  per  cent  had  a 
year  or  over  of  continuous  service. 
This  means  that  the  company  has  a 
very  long  length  of  service  group 
among  all  its  employees  as  well  as  a 
very  stable  force. 

Chart  XI  gives  a  comparison  of 
length  of  service  by  reason  for  leaving 
and   shows  that  the  employees  who 


leave  for  "work  elsewhere"  have  a 
longer  length  of  service  than  em- 
ployees who  leave  because  of  wages  or 
working  conditions.  This  would  indi- 
cate need  for  attention  to  opportunities 
for  advancement,  since  the  employees 
have  several  years  of  service  in  com- 
panies before  they  leave  to  go  else- 
where. 

Combined  figures  for  length  of 
service  for  seven  firms  is  shown  in 
Chart  XII.  It  will  be  seen  that  71 
per  cent  of  employees  leave  during 
the  first  year.  The  employees  dis- 
charged have  the  shortest  term  of 
service,  next  is  the  lay  off  group. 
Firms  are  thus  losing  under  resigna- 
tions, the  most  experienced  employees. 


TABLE  10 — Length  of  Service  of  Exits 
1921:  Percentage  of  Total  Exits 


Firm  No.  6 

Firm  No.  8 

Length  of  Service 

Tot.  Ex. 

Resig. 

Dischg. 

Lay  Off 

Tot.  Ex. 

Resig. 

Dischg. 

Lay  Off 

Under  1  week 

1  week  and  under  1 
month 

0.0 
5.5 
3.4 
4.1 

37.7 

28.1 

8.9 

S.4 

2.7 

4.8 

0.7 

0.7 
0.0 
0.0 

0.0 

0.7 

2.7 

0.0 

6.2 

6.8 

1.4 

0.0 

0.0 

0.7 

0.0 

0.7 
0.0 
0.0 

0.0 

1.4 

0.0 

0.7 

2.0 

0.7 

0.7 

0.7 

0.7 

0.0 

0.0 

0.0 
0.0 
0.0 

0.0 
3.4 

0.7 

3.4 

29.5 

20.6 

6.8 

2.7 

2.0 

4.1 

0.7 

0.0 
0.0 
0.0 

4.4 

18.8 

38.9 

20.1 

11.4 

3.2 

1.0 

0.3 

0.3 

0.6 

0.1 

0.4 
0.1 
0.4 

2.4 

7.1 

10.1 

4.4 

2.8 

1.5 

0.8 

0.0 

0.2 

0.5 

0.1 

0.4 
0.1 
0.3 

1.9 

4.9 

3.0 

1.1 

0.6 

0.4 

0.1 

0.0 

0.0 

0.0 

0.0 

0.0 
0.0 
0.0 

0.1 

6.8 

1  month  and  under  3 
months 

25.8 

3  months  and  under  6 
months 

14.6 

6  months  and  under  1 
vear 

8.0 

1  year  and  under  2 
years 

1.:* 

2  years  and  under  8 
years 

0.1 

3  years  and  under  4 
vears 

0.3 

4  years  and  under  5 
vears 

0.1 

5  years  and  under  10 
vears 

0.1 

10  years  and  under  15 
years 

0.0 

15  years  and  under  20 
years 

0.0 

20  years  and  over.  .  . 
Unknown 

0.0 
0.1 

Total 

100.0 

19.2 

6.9 

73.9 

100.0 

30.7 

12.0 

57.3 

f 


1  Disregard  sweep  of  curve.     Read  curve  of  Firm  No.  1  according  to  figures  published  in  Table  9. 


1 1 


i 


214 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

TABLE  11 — Length  of  Service  of  Exits 
1921 :  Percentage  of  Total  Exits 


Length  of  Service 


Firm  No.  10 


Under  1  week 

1  week  and  under  1 

month 

1  month  and  under  3 

months 

3  months  and  under  6 

months 

6  months  and  under  1 

year 

1  year  and  under  2 
years 

2  years  and  under  3 
years 

3  years  and  under  4 
years 

4  years  and  under  5 
years 

5  years  and  under  10 
years 

10  years  and  under  15 
years 

15  years  and  under  20 
years 

20  years  and  over.  . 

Unknown 


Tot.  Ex, 


Total 


2.2 

20.9 

19.8 

6.6 

5.5 

16.5 

9.8 

6.6 

2.2 

3.3 

1.1 

2.2 
2.2 
1.1 


Resig.      Disehg. 


2.2 
11.0 
11.0 
3.3 
4.4 
12.1 
4.4 
2.2 
1.1 
2.2 
0.0 
0.0 

1.1 
1.1 


0.0 
8.8 
6.6 
1.1 
0  0 
0.0 
0.0 

1.1 

0.0 
0.0 

1.1 

0.0 
0.0 
0  0 


I^ayOff 


Firm  No.  15 


100.0 


56.1 


18.7 


0.0 
1.1 

2.2 

2.2 

1.1 

4.4 

5.4 

3.3 

1.1 

1.1 

0.0 

2.2 
1.1 
0.0 


Tot.  Ex. 


25.2 


7.7 

10.5 

23.0 

8.4 

15.4 

18.2 

4.9 

5.6 

1.4 

4.9 

0.0 

0.0 
0.0 
0.0 


Resig. 


6.3 

5.6 

4.2 

1.4 

3.5 

7.7 

1.4 

2.1 

0.7 

1.4 

0.0 

0.0 
0.0 
0.0 


Disehg. 


100.0  34.3 


1.4 

0.7 

1.4 

1.4 

2.8 

0.7 

0.0 

0.7 

0.0 

1.4 

0.0 

0.0 
0.0 
0.0 


Lay  Off 


10. 


0.0 

4.2 

17.4 

5.6 

9.1 

9.8 

3.5 

2.8 

0.7 

2.1 

0.0 

0.0 
0.0 
0.0 


55.2 


TABLE  12 — Length  of  Service  of  Exits 
1921:  Percentage  of  Total  Exits 


Length  of  Service 


Firm  No.  24 


L'nder  1  week 

1  week  and  under  1  month .  .  . 
1  month  and  under  3  months . 
3  months  and  under  6  months 

0  months  and  under  1  year.  . . 

1  year  and  under  2  years 

2  years  and  under  3  years .  .  . . 

3  years  and  under  4  years .  .  .  . 

4  years  and  under  5  years .  .  . . 

5  years  and  under  10  vears.  . 
10  years  and  under  15  years.  . 
15  years  and  under  20  years.  . 

20  years  and  over 

Unknown 

Total 


Total  Exit 


22.6 

28.3 

25.2 

12.2 

5.6 

2.6 

0.7 

0.6 

0.5 

1.2 

0.4 

0.0 

0.1 

0.0 


Resignation 


100.0 


20.7 
22.5 
17.6 
7.8 
3.5 
1.7 
0.6 
0.4 
0.5 
1.1 
0.2 
0.0 
0.0 
0.0 


Discharge 


76.6 


1.7 

3.6 

3.6 

1.9 

0.5 

0.5 

0.1 

0.2 

0.0 

0.1 

0.1 

0.0 

0.1 

0.0 


Lay  Off 


12.4 


0.2 

2.2 

4.0 

2.5 

1.6 

0.4 

0.0 

0.0 

0.0 

0.0 

0.1 

0.0 

0.0 

0.0 


11.0 


\ 


s 


f 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


215 


CHART  XI 


QDMPARISa/l    DF    LErtliTH    DF    5ERVIQE    BY 

MA^DR    RLABDHB 


60 


50 


40 


30 


20 


10 


I 


/ 


7 


/' 


T 


CUMULATIVE   PEFl«;E.AtTAli&    i;URVE:& 


DISSATISFIED 

WITH  woen.- 

ING  CONpiTtOWS 

DISSATISFIED 
WITH 
WA<iES_  _ 

WORK 
ELSEWHERE 

1 

LA&OREes 

UNDER.  1  MO. 

61.8 

65  4 

20.7 

29.5 

UNOEO,  3  MOS. 

7BA^ 

834 

42  2 

762 

JNDEB.&MOS. 

85.3 

92.2 

53.0 

898 

UNDER,  1  YR.. 

83-7 

954 

634 

92.1 

UNDER  2VRS 

91.9 

986 

77  9 

947 

UNDER.  3  YRS 

9S.5 

99  3 

84-9 

96.0 

UNDER.  4  YRS 

9«.9 

99  3 

892. 

962 

UNDER   SYRS 

977 

993 

9 1 '9 

96.5 

UNDER.  lOYRS 

985 

tooo 

96^4 

965 

UNDER.  ISYRS 

988 

966 

965 

UNDER.  20  YRS 

994 

98  4 

965 

OVEB.   20YRS 

99.7 

993 

96S 

UNKNOWN 

lOOO 

lOO  O 

tooo 

60 


50 


DIVISIONS  OF  "UNDER.  I  YEAR.:" 
UNDER,  i  MO.  1  t  UNDE.R.3M06. 
3  ftUNDCK.  6MOS;  6MO&.&  UNDCe  lYR. 


UNDte 
I  YEAR. 


1  t  UNDER 

2  YEAES 


Zfr UNDER 
3YEAC5 


3&UNDeC 
A  YEABS 


4  h  OKOt^ 
5  YEACS 


5&UM0EC 
10  YE^85 


lOiUNDtC 
15  YEARS 


15&.UN0EC 


20  Yt^es 

&.  OVtC 


40 


30 


20 


10 


UNK.NOWW 


INOUSTClM.   RESLM2CH    DEPT 


>   >l 


^ 


216 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility  217 

VI— SUMMARY  MONTHLY  COMPARISONS  FOR  TEN  FIRMS 

JANUARY,  1921  TO  JUNE,  1922 


CHART  XII 


N 


CUMULATIVE  TURnnVER  PERQEHTAl^E 


100 


90 


ao 


70 


60 


1^ 


40 


30 


20 


10 


ID  FIRMS 


t5>c'i^:p°- -  - 


U^V    OFFS 


30.7 


^OYCSJOVtlL 


UNKNOVyN 


97.0 


100.0 


TOTAL      i 


iOOO 


40.3 


4  9.0 


51.4 


52.5 


56.S 


\0.S 


OFFS 


17.1 


24.7 


27. 3 


294 


DISCH/ikBGES 


DIVISIONS'UNDLC    1   VtAC.:- 

UNDEE  1  MO.;  1  MO.   &   UMDteaMOS, 
3M0b  &  UNDLC  6  MOb  ,  feMOb  &.   UNDEE  1  YE 


UNDEe   L 
Yt\B 


Z  YC5 


C&UNDte 


3AUNDEC 
4VI25. 


5Ye5  10  YB5. 


lOiUNOtB 
15  YES 


15£.UNDtB 
20  YC5 


20  Y25  &. 
OVEE 


60 


^ 


AO 


3ft 


20 


10 


UNKWOVJN 
INDUSTCI/XL   CEStAECH   DtPT. 


S 


Table  13  on  the  adjoining  page 
shows  the  monthly  fluctuation  in 
employment  and  reasons  for  leaving 
for  a  combined  group  of  ten  firms. 
No  weighting  was  done  in  grouping 
these  firms  since  selection  was  made  of 
medium  sized  concerns.  It  is  evident 
that  the  net  result  of  the  year  1921  was 
a  decrease  in  total  payroll  of  8  per 
cent,  a  decrease  which  is  steadily 
being  made  up  by  the  increases  of 
April,  May  and  June. 

The  growth  in  payroll  is  also  being 
reflected  in  the  turnover  due  to  resig- 
nations in  recent  months.  Discharges 
and  lay  offs  have  decreased  while  the 
turnover  due  to  resignations  has  grad- 
ually increased  from  month  to  month 
during  1922.  Chart  XIII  in  the 
chapter  following  shows  the  relation 


between  this  group  and  the  combined 
turnover  in  the  state  departments. 
In  recent  months  the  turnover  due 
to  resignations  has  been  increasing 
rapidly.  This  increase  is  typical  of 
all  plants.  Analysis  by  occupations 
shows  that  instability  among  employ- 
ees classed  as  unskilled  laborers  has 
been  the  most  important  factor  in  the 
increase.  One  may  explain  the  turn- 
over of  laborers  by  adjustment  of  wage 
rates  as  well  as  by  activity  in  the 
building  trades. 

Little  emphasis  has  been  placed 
elsewhere  in  this  account  upon  group 
figures  since  the  firms  reporting  in 
1921  represented  too  few  employees 
to  make  an  index  valuable.  A  Labor 
Turnover  index  is  now  possible  by  the 
use  of  data  available  in  the  area. 


VII— MOBILITY  IN  PUBLIC  AND  PRIVATE  EMPLOYMENT 


The  group  of  private  industries 
cooperating  in  this  study  represents  a 
wider  distribution  in  kinds  of  employ- 
ment than  is  usually  considered  to- 
gether. Textiles,  metal  trades,  chem- 
icals, paper,  public  utility,  retail  store, 
and  one  hotel  are  included  in  the  group 
reporting.  Even  with  the  inclusion 
of  some  continuous  industries,  inten- 
(  sive  study  of  an  area  would  be  lacking 

without  some  attention  to  public 
employment.  With  the  cooperation 
of  Mr.  Albert  Smith  Faught,  it  has 
been  possible  to  secure  the  turnover 
for  the  departments  of  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  as  well  as  for  the 
classified  service  of  the  City  of  Phila- 
delphia. Since  the  latter  are  not  yet 
ready  for  publication  a  comparison  is 
here  made  of  the  turnover  of  ten  pri- 
vate industries,  see  Chart  No.  XIII, 


representing  roughly  thirteen  thousand 
employees  and  24  Departments  of 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  comprising 
4,041  employees. 

The  following  table  gives  the  yearly 
turnover  rates  of  the  various  public 
departments : 

State  of  Pennsylvania 
(No  Civil  Service  Law) 

Yearly  Turnover 
Rate 

State  Police 68  6 

State  Highway 57.4 

Agriculture 18.3 

Attorney  General's  Dept 16.7 

Labor  and  Industry 15.8 

Legislative  Reference  Bureau 15.4 

Forestry  Department 13.9 

Water  Supply  Commission 13.3 

Public  Grounds  and  Buildings 12.8 

Public  Instruction 12.4 

Internal  Affairs  (separately  elected) ...  11.0 


218 


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C  -5    as    ^    OS 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


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220 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


State  of  Pennsylvania — Continued 

(No  Civil  Service  Law) 

Yearly  Turnover 
Rate 
State   Workmen's   Insurance   Depart- 
ment    10.8 

Censors  of  Motion  Pictures 7.7 

Public  Welfare  Department 6.7 

Insurance  Department 6.6 

Fisheries  Department 5.9 

Mines  Department 5.9 

Game  Commission 5.7 

Public  Service  Commission 5.6 

Treasury    Department    (separately 

elected) 5.0 

Adjutant  General's  Department 4.9 

Public  Printing  and  Binding  Depart- 
ment    4.2 

State  Library  and  Museum 2  0 

Banking  Department 18 

All  Departments 32 . 3 

24  Executive  Agencies  (all  major  agencies 
except  Health  Department  and  Auditor  Gen- 
eral's Department.) 

It  is  worth  while  to  compare  the 
relation  between  turnover  in  ])iihlie 
and  private  employment,  althouirh 
many  of  these  departments  are  small 
and  data  cover  a  limited  period. 


Chart  XIII  on  the  previous  page 
and  Table  14  which  follow  give  an 
opportunity  to  compare  state  agencies 
with  a  group  of  private  firms.  The 
lower  half  of  the  chart  shows  total 
turnover  and  turnover  less  lay  offs, 
for  both  public  and  private  groups. 
The  distance  between  the  curves  will 
in  each  case  represent  lay  offs.  It  will 
be  seen  that  the  chances  of  being  laid 
off  in  private  industries  during  1921 
was  about  four  times  as  great  as  in 
public  industries  except  during  the 
months  of  November,  December  and 
January  when  the  probabilities  were 
more  nearly  alike.  The  greatest  con- 
trast is  in  resignations  under  which 
more  than  four  times  the  rate  of  shift- 
ing occurs  than  is  found  in  public 
employment.  When  one  considers  the 
differences  in  mobility  in  the  two  groups 
it  is  surprising  to  find  that  the  curves 
for  rate  of  discharge  wind  around  each 
other,  with  the  curve  for  public  em- 
ployment above  the  private  group  for 
the  entire  last  half  of  the  vear  1921. 
This  high  discharge  rate  is  explained 


TABLE  14 — Departments  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  Labor  Turnover  Report  * 

January  to  Deceml>er  1921 


Month 

Resignations  ^ 

Discharges 

Lay  Offs 

Total 

Number 

T.  0.  ^, 

Number 

T.  0.  % 

Number 

T.  0.  % 

Number 

T.  0.  % 

January 

February  

March 

41 
28 
30 
40 
36 
53 
46 
64 
91 
47 
49 
46 

12.2 
8.3 
8.9 
11.9 
10.7 
15.7 
13.7 
19.0 
27.0 
14.0 
14.6 
13.7 

31 
26 
33 
32 
29 
19 
45 
42 
35 
22 
34 
15 

9.2 

7.7 

9.8 

9.5 

8.0 

5.6 

13.4 

12.5 

10.4 

6.5 

10.1 

4.5 

84 
22 
22 
7 
6 
14 
12 
20 
25 
11 
65 
83 

24.9 
6.5 
6.5 
2.1 
1.8 
4.2 
3.5 
5.9 
7.4 
3.6 
19.3 
24.6 

156 

76 

85 

79 

71 

86 

103 

126 

151 

81 

148 

144 

46.3 
22.5 
25  2 

April 

23  5 

May 

21   1 

June 

25  5 

Julv 

30  6 

August 

September 

October 

November 

December 

37.4 
44.8 
24.1 
44.0 
42.8 

Total 

571 

14.1 

363 

9.0 

372 

9.2 

1306 

32.3 

*  No  civil  service  law. 

''  Including  deaths,  26  in  number. 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


221 


TABLE  15 — Pennsylvania  State  Highway  and  State  Police 
1921:  Labor  Turnover  Percentage 


Month 


January.  .  . 
February.  . . 

March 

April 

May 

June 

July 

August .... 
September. 
October.  .  .  . 
November.  . 
December.  . 

Total 


State  Highway 


Resig- 
nation 


4 
5 


22.8 

10.5 

13.2 

12.3 

18. 

32. 

29.0 

44.8 

56.2 

23.7 

28.1 

20.2 


25  9 


Dis- 
charge 


14.0 

3.5 

7.0 

6.2 

7.9 

4.4 

12.3 

12.3 

14.9 

7.9 

15.8 

2.6 


9.1 


Lay 
OfiP 


71.1 

16.7 

19.3 

2.6 

4.4 

3.5 

5.2 

2.6 

11.4 

7.9 

53.5 

70.2 


22.4 


lotal 


107.9 
30.7 
39.5 
21.1 
30.7 
40.4 
46.5 
59.7 
82.5 
39.5 
97.4 
93.0 


57.4 


Resig- 
nation 


15.6 

12.5 
9.3 

18.7 
6.3 
6.3 

15.6 
6.3 
9.3 

12.5 
9.3 
0.0 


State  Police 


10.2 


Dis- 


charge 


40.5 
65.4 
68.6 
71.7 
62.3 
37.4 
84.1 
84.1 
56.1 
40.5 
37.4 
37.4 


57.1 


Lay 

Off 


0.0 
3.1 
0.0 
3.1 
0.0 
3.1 
0.0 
3.1 
0  0 
3.1 
0.0 
0.0 


1.3 


ToUl 


56.1 
81.0 
77.9 
93.5 
68.6 
46.8 
99.7 
93.5 
65.4 
56.1 
46.7 
37.4 


68.6 


when  analysis  is  made  of  the  two  state 
departments,  with  high  turnover  rates, 
i.e.  State  Police  and  State  Highway. 
1{\  the  former  the  discharge  rate  ranges 
from  37.4  per  cent  to  84.1  per  cent  in 
the  months  of  July  and  August.  The 
State  Highway  Department  shows 
an  exactly  opposite  tendency.  Exits 
are  due  mainly  to  lay  offs  which  were 
especially  heavy  at  the  end  of  the  year. 
This  department,  "during  1921,  was 


being  reduced  in  numbers  because  of 
the  gradual  exhaustion  of  revenue  from 
an  issue  of  highway  bonds." ^ 

In  order  to  avoid  looking  too  nar- 
rowly at  the  figures  for  the  turnover 
of  public  employment,  for  which  few 
other  comparisons  are  in  print,  com- 
putations were  made  to  contrast  the 
turnover  in  the  largest  state  depart- 
ment with  similar  departments  else- 
where. 


Philadelphia 

Police 

Turnover  Per  Cent 

Pennsylvania  State 

Police 
Turnover  Per  Cent 

Los  Angeles  City 

Police 
Turnover  Per  Cent 

Januarv 

6.4 
6.2 
5.9 
4.8 
4.0 
5.6 
2.1 
2.6 
5.9 
4.6 
4.6 
5.6 

56.1 
81.0 
77.9 
93.5 
68.6 
'6.8 
99.7 
93.5 
65.4 
56.1 
46.7 
37.4 

9  4 

February 

7  0 

March 

2  3 

April 

2  3 

May 

1  2 

June 

8  2 

July 

1.2 

August 

September 

5.8 
3  5 

October 

November 

9.4 
11  7 

December 

4  7 

^  Mr.  Albert  S.  Faught — unpublished  address. 


222 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


223 


H 


^ 


In  Pennsylvania  the  annual  turn- 
over rate  in  1921  for  the  State  Police 
was  68.6  per  cent;  in  Los  Angeles 
City  it  was  5. 6  per  cent;  and  in  the 
city  of  Philadelphia  it  was  4.8  per 
cent. 

The  movement  from  month  to 
month  in  these  three  jurisdictions  is 
shown  in  table  at  bottom  of  page  221. 

The  above  explanation  of  the  two 
public  service  departments  with  high- 
est turnover  is  given  to  show  the  need 
of  verification  in  the  future  before  the 
tendencies  here  shown  are  regarded 
as  conclusive.  Other  publications  will 
be   devoted    to    the    very    interesting 


relationships  between  public  and  pri- 
vate employment.  It  is  not  the  pur- 
pose of  this  study  to  make  this  con- 
trast in  detail. 

The  short  item  of  service  in  the 
analysis  for  men  is  due  to  discharges 
in  the  early  weeks  of  employment  for 
the  state  police. 

Contrasting  men  and  women  in 
public  service,  the  table  below  shows 
that  for  the  first  year's  service  "  women 
are  more  apt  to  leave  after  one  to  three 
months'  service;  while  the  men  will 
either  drop  out  sooner  than  three 
months  or  else  stay  until  after  six 
months.'* 


VIII— CONCLUSIONS 


Table  16 — Length  of  Service  of  Pennsylvania  Public  Service  and  State  Police 

Absolute  Numbers  and  Percentages 


Public  Service 

State  Police 

Length  of  Service 

Men 

Women 

Total 

Total 

No.  of 
Exits 

%  of 
Exits 

No.  of 
Exits 

%of 
Exits 

No.  of 
Exits 

%  of 
P2xits 

No.  of 
Exits 

%  o.- 
Exits 

Under  1  week 

1   week  and  under  1 

month 

1  month  and  under  3 

months 

56 
102 
227 
211 
190 
137 

71 

34 

44 

3 

5.2 

9.5 

21.1 

19.6 

17.7 

12.7 

6.6 

3.2 
4.1 
0.3 

4 

13 

69 

35 

23 

46 

18 

7 

16 

0 

1.7 

5.6 

29.9 

15.2 

10.0 

19.9 

7.8 

3.0 
6.9 
0.0 

60 
115 
296 
246 
213 
183 

89 

41 

(U) 

3 

4.6 

8.8 

22.7 

18.9 

16.3 

14.0 

6.8 

3.1 
4.6 
0.2 

38 

62 

32 

33 

49 

16 

16 

15 
3 
0 

14.4 

23.5 

12.1 

12.5 

18.5 

6.1 

6.1 

5.7 
1.1 
0.0 

3  months  and  under  6 
months 

6  months  and  under  1 
year 

1    year  and   under  2 
years 

2  years  and  under  3 
years 

3  years  and  under  5 
years 

5  years  and  over.  .  .  . 
Unknown 

Total 

1,075 

100.0 

231 

100.0 

1,305 

100.0 

264 

100.0 

0\ 


On  the  basis  of  turnover  the  eight- 
een months  from  January,  1921  to 
June,  1922  naturally  divide  into  three 
periods.  The  first,  ending  in  May, 
1921,  was  characterized  by  a  rising 
turnover  much  of  which  was  caused 
by  resignations  in  anticipation  of  lay 
offs  or  resignations  immediately  fol- 
lowing the  restive  days  of  a  lay  off; 
the  second  period  is  more  even,  with 
a  slowly  lowered  turnover;  in  the  last 
period  accelerated  production,  ac- 
tivity in  the  building  trades,  and  the 
opportunities  for  laborers  accompanied 
by  some  adjustment  in  laborers'  rates 
account  for  the  high  turnover  of  the 
months  of  1922. 

No  attempt  has  been  made  to  use 
refined  statistical  methods  in  the 
interpretation  of  data  in  connection 
with  this  study.  Only  the  most 
obvious  conclusions  have  been  drawn, 
owing  to  the  experimental  character 
of  the  first  period  of  reporting.  Even 
with  this  care  some  conclusions  are  at 
variance  with  current  statements  of 
the  tendencies  of  labor  turnover. 
The  case  of  lay  offs  is  so  striking  that 
it  is  worth  emphasis,  even  if  later 
study  should  show  that  the  relation- 
ship is  merely  the  happening  of  an 
abnormal  industrial  period.  The  con- 
tour of  the  curves,  except  in  the  case 
of  unexpected  lay  offs  after  all  plants 
were  dull,  is  determined  by  the  resig- 
nation rather  than  by  the  lay  off  curve. 
This  conclusion  is  in  accordance  with 
traditions  of  workmen.  Observers  in 
industry  in  this  period  have  empha- 
sized the  respect  felt  by  the  workers 
for  the  person  who  finds  himself  a  job 
elsewhere  before  he  is  laid  off,  as  the 
joking  of  workmen  would  put  it,  he  is 
a  fellow  who  does  not  consider  himself 
so  important  to  the  company  that  he 
will  undoubtedly  be  kept.  In  the 
case  of  "Work  Elsewhere"  while  evi- 


dence is  not  wholly  conclusive,  the 
locality  and  firm  to  which  workers 
shift  wherever  detail  is  specified  under 
"better  position"  indicates  a  nuich 
more  restricted  area  of  turnover  than 
is  usually  described.  Much  of  the 
turnover  is  within  the  trade  and  within 
the  best  known  and  outstanding  j)lants 
in  the  trade.  For  example,  in  the 
case  of  hotel  employees  the  same  fac- 
tors influence  the  workers  to  shift  that 
influence  the  guests.  In  the  summer 
months  when  the  mountains  are  de- 
lightful to  play  in,  they  are  equally 
attractive  to  work  in  and  employees 
follow  the  guests  for  the  same  reasons 
that  the  guests  move.  This  will 
account  for  the  relative  stability  of 
hotel  employees  between  seasons  and 
the  almost  complete  exodus  when  the 
season  changes.  The  tendency  of 
hosiery  workers  to  follow  the  full- 
fashioned  trade  has  alreadv  been  cited. 
The  evidence  secured  by  the  Depart- 
ment is  too  scrappy  to  push  conclu- 
sions even  as  far  as  the  accumulating 
material  suggests.  More  careful  at- 
tention to  this  item  will  be  given  in 
later  work. 

This  study  is  in  no  way  concerned 
with  what  is  a  normal  turnover.  The 
whole  emphasis  rests  upon  the  dis- 
covery of  what  are  the  actual  causes  of 
turnover  and  the  way  in  which  these 
causes  are  related  to  each  other,  to 
production  conditions  in  concerns, 
and  to  wider  factors  influencing  the 
whole  market.  It  is  not  contended 
that  a  low  turnover  rate  is  always 
desirable.  Turnover  may  be  too  low, 
as  well  as  too  high.  To  quote  an 
illustration  from  Mr.  Faught,  "An 
efficient  hospital  may  depend  on  having 
a  resident-medical  staff  which  is  con- 
tinually being  recruited,  with  a  rela- 
tively high  turnover  rate,  rather  than 
on  having  a  staff  of  physicians  who 


224 


The  Annals  of  the  x\merican  Academy 


A  Study  in  Labor  Mobility 


225 


t  i 


Bi 


are  afraid  to  cut  loose  and  practice 
for  themselves,  and  who  by  lingering 
on  the  staff  for  many  years  markedly 
reduce  the  turnover  rate."  ^  The  ques- 
tion is  one  of  a  balance  of  satisfac- 
toriness  among  occupations.  Turn- 
over may  be  low  for  a  whole  plant  and 
yet  relatively  very  high  for  one  or  two 
occupations  or  departments. 

Sometimes  parts  of  an  occupation 
must  be  studied  as  in  the  case  of  turn- 
over for  waitresses  reported  by  a  large 
hotel.  For  the  whole  occupation  the 
turnover  rate  is  relatively  high  as 
contrasted  with  other  hotel  occupa- 
tions. Analysis  shows  that  the  prob- 
lem is  not  due  to  a  high  turnover  in 
the  main  dining  rooms  where  service 
is  uniform  and  tipping  general.  The 
difficulty  arises  before  a  waitress  gets 
transferred  from  the  side  halls.  If 
the  waitress  is  inexperienced  in  train- 
ing, she  must  begin  in  the  various 
dining  rooms  used  by  chauffeurs  and 
nurse  girls.  Turnover  occurs  either 
in  the  first  week  of  learning  or  because 
an  opportunity  to  transfer  to  the  main 
dining  room  does  not  occur  as  soon 
as  expected  by  the  employee.  Some 
of  this  is  a  matter  of  the  distribution 
of  tipping.  Guests  w^ho  will  pay 
generously  for  service  for  themselves 
in  the  main  dining  room,  are  liable  to 
forget  the  service  to  their  children 
and  attendants  in  other  parts  of  the 
hotel.  Turnover  thus  depends  in  a 
verj'  direct  way  upon  occupations. 
Since  the  quantity  and  variety  of 
occupations  within  any  plant  is  very 
great,  and  since  it  is  unlikely  that  these 
occupations  will  occur  in  similar  pro- 
portions in  plants  of  the  same  type 
even  in  related  industries,  generaliza- 
tions, as  to  what  is  normal  for  any 
situation,  are  impossible. 

In  later  studies  comparison  of 
groups  by  use  of  correlation  coefficients 
may     be    possible.     Age,     education, 

*  Albert  Smith  Faught — unpublished  address. 


and  nationality  now  reported  by  a  few 
firms  should  be  considered.  In  the 
case  of  such  factors,  and  in  that  already 
mentioned  in  connection  with  length 
of  service,  statements  concerning  exits 
are  useless  unless  audit  is  made  of  the 
same  factors  for  the  employees  in  the 
active  file  of  the  firm.  In  this  experi- 
mental stage  only  tlie  most  salient 
facts  of  turnover  could  be  uniformly 
secured.  In  time  findings  may  prove 
illuminating  in  other  directions.  Even 
at  this  stage  it  is  apparent  that  the 
shifting  about  of  employees  is  not  the 
disordered  floating  from  place  to  place 
that  war  writings  deplored.  Well 
marked  similar  movements  character- 
ize our  first  period  of  group  compari- 
sons. 

Ultimately  the  complex  of  turnover 
tendencies  for  an  area  can  be  combined 
into  a  turnover  index.  The  Depart- 
ment is,  in  fact,  working  upon  such  an 
index.  In  at  least  one  case  a  scanty 
index  was  used  to  adjust  wages. 

The  Franklin  Motor  Works  used  the 
rates  for  the  various  occupations  that  pre- 
vailed in  1905  as  the  basis  of  their  relative 
rating.  The  rates  of  that  year  were  chosen 
because  those  seemed  to  be  the  rates  most 
satisfactory  to  workers  as  evidenced  by  the 
low  labor  turnover  rates  of  that  year. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  workers  this  is 
probably  the  best  index  to  the  relative 
satisfactoriness  of  rates.  If  the  rates  of 
turnover  are  the  same  in  the  various  occu- 
pations and  operations  or  if  they  increase 
as  we  go  downward  from  the  highest 
valued  operations,  but  increase  gradually 
(for  we  hope  that  those  in  lower  valued 
operations  are  less  contented  than  those  in 
the  higher  valued  and  seek  to  progress), 
this  fact  may  be  taken  as  indicating  fair 
satisfactoriness  of  such  rates.  ^ 

In  formulating  such  an  index  one  must 
be  sure  that  the  lower  turnover  is  due 
to   "satisfactoriness  of  rates"   rather 

2  Relative  Rating  Versus  Cost  of  Living  as  a 
Basis  of  Adjusting  Wage-Rates,  Thomas  W. 
Mitchell,  Ph.D.— Annai^.  March,  1922,  p.  51. 


h 


than  to  the  knowledge  that  the  "quit- 
ting is  not  good.'*  Besides  any  ad- 
justment of  wages  from  occupation  to 
occupation  on  a  fixed  basis  which  dis- 
regards supply  of  labor  is  an  emergency 
measure  helpful  only  in  the  transition 
of  a  rapidly  changing  period. 

This  study  shows  that  a  beginning 
only  has  been  made  in  the  coordination 
of  education  and  industry  in  personnel 
research.  The  whole  future  of  devel- 
opment depends  upon  the  farsighted- 
ness of  the  business  group  as  well  as 
upon  the  faith  and  earnestness  of 
educational  workers.  How  vast  is  the 
field  to  be  explored  is  well  set  forth 
in  this  recent  statement  of  Professor 
Yerkes : 

Personnel  research,  if  it  is  to  stabilize 
industrial  production,  further  the  devel- 
opment of  the  personality,  and  increase 
human  satisfaction  with  life,  must  study 
intensively  as  well  as  extensively,  with  all 
of  the  methods  available  to  modern  science, 
the  physical,  mental,  and  spiritual  quali- 
>ties  and  relations  of  the  human  being. 
Much  already  has  been  accomplished  in 
the  study  of  the  relations  of  the  body  of 
the  worker  to  industrial  demands.  Speci- 
fications are  being  prepared  which  indicate 
the  ordinary  requirements  of  jobs  and  occu- 
pations and  enable  the  employment  man- 


16 


ager,  in  the  light  of  definite  knowledge  of 
the  worker,  to  estimate  his  degree  of  physi- 
cal fitness  or  adequacy  for  a  particidar 
kind  of  work.  The  individual  mav  be  too 
large  or  too  small,  too  strong  or  too  weak, 
too  quick  or  too  slow,  too  resistant  to 
fatigue  or  not  sufficiently  so,  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  a  particular  task  without 
waste  and  without  personal  harm.  There 
is  no  reason  whv  industrv  should  not  know 
alike  and  with  practical  accuracy,  occupa- 
tional requirements  and  the  bodily  charac- 
teristics and  capacity  of  the  worker,  so  that 
these  two  sets  of  facts  may  be  more  satis- 
factorily related  to  each  other.^ 

Labor  Turnover  has  been  one  of  the 
first  of  these  many  factors  to  demand 
attention.  Its  ramifications  carry  the 
investigator  into  the  realm  of  wider 
study.  Is  it  too  optimistic  to  believe 
with  Professor  Yerkes  that  "We  stand 
on  the  threshold  of  a  new  era  in  which 
attention  and  interest  are  beginning  to 
shift  from  the  material  to  the  personal; 
from  the  things  that  are  worked  with, 
to  the  worker;  from  the  machinery  of 
industry,  to  the  man  who  made,  owns, 
or  operates  it. 


>>  o 


^  What  is  Personnel  Research? — Robert  M. 
Yerkes,  The  Journal  of  Personnel  Research, 
June,  1922,  p.  59. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  56-57. 


:|1 


Appendix 


227 


I 


EXHIBIT  1— CAUSES  OF  LEAVING 

Average  number  of  men  employed Average  number  of  women  employed . 


Nake  or  Number 


APPENDIX 


Exhibit  No.  1 — Causes  of  Leaving  Blank. 

Exhibit  No.  2 — Causes  of  Leaving  Blank — Detailed  form. 

Table  No.   1 — Total  Turnover  Percentages — Nineteen  firms,  January,  1921- 
June,  1922. 

Table  No.  2 — Lay  Off  Turnover  Percentages — Nineteen  firms,  January,  1921- 
June,  1922. 

Table  No.  3 — Quarterly  Report — -Total  Turnover  Percentage — ^Twenty  firms, 
January,  1921-June,  1922. 

Table  No.  4 — Quarterly  Report — Lay  Off  Turnover  Percentages — Twenty  firms, 
Januarv,  1921-June.  1922. 


Race 

AND  Sex 

^  F 

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giving  the  specific  reason  for  leaving. 


f, 


220 


228 


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232  The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 

APPENDIX— TABLE  4 — Quarterly  Report,  Lay  Off  Turnover  Percentages 

Nineteen  Firms:  January,  1921  to  June,  1922 


Firm 

1921  Quarters 

1922  Quarters 

Number 

Jan. -Mar. 

Apr.-June 

July-Sept. 

Oct.-Dec. 

Jan.-Mar. 

Apr.-June 

1 

7.0 
17.8 
43.0 
26.1 
21.8 
21.8 
18.9 

60  0 
30.5 

•   •   ■    • 

8.8 
10.7 

8.6 

14.7 

6.3 

10.2 

100.8 

51.7 

137.0 

344.0 
29.4 

29.6 

•   •   •   • 

1.8 

1.5 

8.3 

2.9 

22.0 

59.0 

233.8 

8.2 

16.8 
104.9 

12.2 

•  •   ■   • 

•  •     •     a 

4  9 

5.5 
8.9 
6.8 

38.6 

7.1 

133.7 

62.8 

29.5 
4.4 

14.3 

41.4 
0.0» 
15. 3» 

51.1 

6.0 

9.3 

6.2 

4.2 

2.3 

91.4 

9.6 

3.9 

22.8 

34.2 

16.8 

9.5 

15.5 

0.0 

18.5 

12.0 

30.8 

14.4 

22.4 

1.5 

2 

19.4 

3    

7.5 

4 

0.9 

6 

2.15 

7 

20.1 

8 

S.9 

9 

0.8 

10 

11.6 

11 

1.3 

12      

6.3 

14 

o.a 

15      

7.9 

16    

0.0 

17 

5.4 

18 

2.1 

19 

2.3. 

21 

2.3 

24 

37.1 

( 

■  November  and  December,  1921. 


A 


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i 


Index  to  Supplement 


The  Bulletin  of  standard  practices:  a  first  step 
in  collection  of  data,  172;  suggestion  for 
greater  uniformity,  173  and  following. 

Community  and  family  reasons:  specific  reasons 
included,  180,  209. 

Data,  collection  of:  form  for,  173,  227,  228. 

Discharges:  comparisons  with  public  employ- 
ment, 200,  220;  definition  of,  174;  departments 
of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  220;  length  of 
service,  213;  major  reasons  for,  174;  quarterly 
rates,  199-200;  specific  reasons  for,  174. 

Employment.    See  Public  employment. 

Employment  Associations:  activities,  166. 

Employment  management:  educational  work  in, 
167. 

Firm  No.  1:  cumulative  percentage  curves,  211; 
grouping  of  major  reasons,  190,  210;  length  of 
service,  table  9,  211;  percentage  of  total  turn- 
over, 188;  production  conditions,  184-6;  re- 
lation of  lay  offs  to  total  turnover,  190;  turnover 
less  lay  offs,  188. 

Firm  No.  2:  effect  of  home  duties,  208;  grouping 
of  major  reasons,  210;  lay  off  percentages,  197; 
length  of  service,  table  9,  211;  percentage  of 
total  turnover,  188;  production  conditions, 
184-6;  quarterly  percentages,  190;  relation  of 
lay  offs  to  total  turnover,  190;  turnover  less 
lay  offs,  188. 

Firm  No.  3:  grouping  of  major  reasons,  210; 
length  of  service,  210;  production  conditions 
184-6. 

Firm  No.  4:  lay  off  percentages,  197;  physical 
reasons,  209;  production  conditions,  184-7; 
quarterly  percentages,  190;  turnover  less  lay 
offs,  188. 

Firm  No.  6:  lay  off  percentages,  107;  length  of 
service,  table  10,  213;  physical  reasons,  209; 
production  conditions,  184-7;  turnover  less 
lay  offs,  188. 

Firm  No.  8:  grouping  of  major  reasons,  210;  lay 
off  percentages,  197;  length  of  service,  table 
10,  213;  production  conditions,  184,  187;  quar- 
terly percentages,  190;  relation  of  lay  offs  to  to- 
tal turnover,  190. 

Firm  No.  10:  cumulative  curves,  211;  lay  off  per- 
centages, 197;  length  of  service,  table  11,  214, 
210;  physical  reasons,  209;  production  con- 
ditions, 187;  turnover  less  lay  offs,  188. 

Firm  No.  11:  grouping  of  major  reasons,  210; 
lay  off  percentages,  197;  leaving  city,  209;  pro- 
duction condition,  184,  187;  quarterly  percent- 
ages, 190;  turnover  less  lay  offs,  172. 


Firm  No.  15:  grouping  of  major  reasons,  210; 
lay  off  percentages,  197;  length  of  service, 
table  11,  214;  physical  reasons,  209;  production 
conditions,  184,  187;  quarterly  percentages, 
190;  turnover  less  lay  offs,  190. 

Firm  No.  24:  cumulative  percentage  curves,  211; 
effect  of  home  duties,  208;  grouping  of  major 
reasons,  210;  lay  off  percentages,  197;  length 
of  service,  table  12,  214;  production  conditions, 
184-6. 

Hours:  180. 

Industrial  Association,  Philadelphia.  See  Phila- 
delphia Industrial  Association. 

Industrial  Research  Department:  aim,  169-70; 
data  to  be  submitted  by  plants,  179-80;  facta 
of  community  interest,  168;  need  for,  166;  re- 
ports cooperating  companies,  179;  scope  of, 
167-9. 

Labor  policy:  specific  reasons  included,  206; 
table,  181. 

Labor  Turnover:  by  age,  178;  computation  of, 
177-8,  190;  conclusions,  223;  by  departments, 
177;  index  of  number  employed,  Chart  I,  185; 
departments  of  state  of  Pennsylvania,  220;  by 
dependency,  178-9;  by  education,  178;  inter- 
est in  turnover  comparisons,  172;  lack  of  em- 
phasis on  labor  in  depression  period,  171;  less 
lay-offs,  Chart  III  and  IV,  192-3;  by  marital 
status,  178-9;  monthly  turnover,  1921;  Penn- 
sylvania State  Police,  221;  Philadelphia  Police, 
221;  Los  Angeles  City  Police,  221;  by  nation- 
ality, 178-9;  need  of  occupational  studies,  224; 
neglect  of  attention  to  long-run  tendencies,  172; 
omission  in  analysis  of  records,  178;  quarterly 
percentages,  190;  reasons  for,  171-2,  180,  209; 
relation  to  layoffs,  191,  Chart  II;  In  process  of 
construction,  217;  use  in  adjusting  rates,  224. 

Lay  Offs,  197;  definitions  of,  174;  departments  of 
the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  220;  length  of  serv- 
ice. Chart  XII,  216;  major  reasons  for,  174; 
relation  to  resignations  and  discharges,  197-9; 
specific  reasons,  174. 

Length  of  service.    See  service. 

Philadelphia  Industrial  Association:  166;  sources 
of  labor  supply,  172. 

Production  conditions,  183. 

Public  employment:  lay  offs,  1921,  department 
of  state  of  Pennsylvania,  220;  length  of  service, 
222;  state  police,  222;  monthly  total  turnover, 
1921,  departments  of  state  of  Pennsylvania, 
220;  comparison  with  group  of  private  firms, 
220;  Pennsylvania  state  highways,  table  15; 
discharge  rate.  State  highway,   state  police. 


233 


I 


234 


The  Annals  of  the  American  Academy 


221;  yearly  turnover  rate  by  departments: 
state  of  Pennsylvania,  217-20;  monthly  resig- 
nations 1921,  departments  of  the  state  of 
Pennsylvania,  220;  monthly  discharges,  1921, 
departments  of  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  220 

Resignations:  200-210;  connected  with  job, 
table  8,  209;  connected  with  social  life,  table  8, 
209;  definitions  of,  174;  in  departments  of 
state  of  Pennsylvania,  220;  involuntary,  196; 
length  of  service,  213;  quarterly  percentage  of 
exits  by  main  divisions  of  turnover.  Chart 
VII,  201;  reasons  for:  avoidable,  176;  major 
reasons,  174-5,  180,  202;  percentage  of  exits  of 
1921,  Chart  VIII,  207;  major  reasons,  percent- 
age of  exits  of  1922,  Chart  IX,  208;  personal 


reasons,  180;  physical  reasons,  180;  specific 
reasons  included,  209;  174-5,  turnover  per- 
centages, 202;  unavoidable,  176. 

Service,  length  of:  analysis  of,  178;  caution  io 
interpreting,  211;  cumulative  percentage 
curves,  211;  discharges,  213;  lay  offs,  213; 
resignations.  Chart  XII,  216; 

Shifting  of  position:  reasons  for,  206-10,  223. 

Standard  practice,  bulletin  of.    See  Bulletin  of 

standard  practice. 
Training,  technical:  influence  of,  166. 

Wages,  180,  205. 

Working  conditions:  180,  205;  table,  181. 


A 


/ 


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i 


"^ 


v 


MUD   HOLLOW 

By  the  Late  DR.  SIMON  N.  PATTEN 

The  first  scientific  novel  of  tjie  future — based  on  the  New  Psychology.  "  The  road 
from  conformity  to  freedom:  not  the  seen  but  the  felt,  not  color  but  joy,  not  fact  but 
emotion,  not  beauty  but  action,  not  madonnas  but  corn-fed  girls." 

Shocking!  Startling!  But — more  than  all — sublime.  MUD  HOLLOW  is  sear- 
ing in  its  attack  upon  bad  American  complexes  which  the  X-ray  of  modern  psychol- 
ogy reveals.     It  is  the  spirit  of  Simon  N.  Patten, — insurgent  to  the  last. 

N.  Y.  Evening  Post:  The  reader  "will  not  hesitate  to  place  it  on  the  same  shelf  as 
his  Bible." 

Boston  Transcript:  "Cleverly  analytical — likely  to  provoke  debate." 

N.  Y.  Sun:  "A  document  of  prairie  civilization  as  well  as  'Main  Street'  or  'Poor 
White.'" 

All  Book  and  Department  Stores,  SI. 90:  or,  postpaid,  S3. 00,  from 


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accurate  information  on  the  problems  of  the  day  as  does  that  published  by 
the  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science."  SAM  D.  GOZA, 

The  Northwestern  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Companyi 
Helena,  Montana 

**I  wish  to  congratulate  you  on  the  excellence  of  the  volumes  for  the  past 
year.  The  one  thing  that  is  particularly  commendable  is  the  up-to-dateness 
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all  sides  of  the  different  subjects,  leaving  him  quite  free  and  unbiased  in  the 
formation  of  his  own  opinions."  N.  L.  SOMERS, 

Toronto,  Ontario 


■c^f  t: 


3-  -.^^iv 


The  American  Academy 

OF 

Political  and  Social  Science 

Philadelphia 


President 
L.  S.  ROWE,  Ph.D.,  Director-General,  Pan-American  Union, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


Vice-Presiden  ts 


CARL  KELSEY,  Ph.D. 
UniYorsity  of  Pennsylvania 


HON.  HERBERT  HOOVER 
Secretary  of  Commerce 


DAVID  P.  BARROWS,  Ph.D. 
University  of  California 


Secretary 
J.  P.  LICHTENBERGER,  Ph JD. 
University  of  Pennsylvania 


Treasurer 
CHARLES  J.  RHOADS,  Esq. 
Brown  Brothers  and  Company,  Philadelphia 


GENERAL  ADVISORY  COMMITTEE 


DR.  RAFAEL  ALTAMIRA 
Madrid,  Spain 

EDUARDO  JIMENEZ  DE  ARECHAGA 
Montevideo,  Uruguay 

RT.  HON.  ARTHUR  J.  BALFOUR,  M  J>. 
LMidon,  England 

PROF.  EDWIN  CANNAN,  LLJ). 
Oxford,  England 

PROF.  L.  DUPRIE2 
University  of  Louvain 

PROF.  CARLO  F.  FERRARIS 
Royal  University,  Padua,  Italy 

EDMUND  J.  JAMES,  PhJ).,  LL.D. 
University  of  Illinois 

PROF.  J.  W.  JENKS 
New  York  Umversttj 


PROF.  JOHN  H.  LATANt,  PhJ). 
Johns  H(^»ldns  University 

PROF.  RAPHAEL  GEORGES  LEVY 
Paris,  France 

PROF.  L.  OPPENHEIM 
University  of  Cambridge 
England 

PROF.  A,  C.  PIGOU 

University  of  Cambridge 
En^and 

ADOLFO  G.  POSADA 
Madrid,  Spaifi 

GUILLERMO  SUBERCASEAUX 
Santiago,  Chile 

DR.  JAVIER  PRADO  y  UGARTECHE 
University  of  San  Marcos 
Lima,  Peru 

HARTLEY  WITHERS 
London,  En^and 


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